


Fee Fi Fo Fuck Yeah

by CiaraJason



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: AHOT6 - Freeform, Achievement City, Achievement Hunters, Alternate Universe - Minecraft, Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Fluff, Giant/Tiny, M/M, Macro/Micro, Polyamory, RageHappy, Size Difference, Size Kink, Sky Factory AU, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-21
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2018-03-31 15:35:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3983458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CiaraJason/pseuds/CiaraJason
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When  the magic beans that Gavin swapped for the cow are thrown away, he can't believe the giant beanstalk that grows out of the ground. Together with Michael and Ray they will climb up the beanstalk to discover a castle inhabited by three enormous giants. Shenanigans ensue.</p><p>Jack and the Beanstalk/Sky Factory AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A great fucking start this is

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to apologise to everyone for inflicting this fic upon them  
> I am trash  
> Enjoy

To say that Gavin, Michael and Ray were poor was a pretty fucking understatement. I mean, I know everyone in the kingdom is poor, but these guys were like… dirt poor. Not even… shit poor. What I’m trying to say is they were pretty fucking poor. It’s not like they were lazy or anything, they worked so hard all there life, just in a vain hope to get some bread on the table. The economy in Achievement City was rather dire, to say the least. The gold had just dried up one day and the people of the kingdom had suffered for it, especially the little people. King Hullum worked tirelessly every day in the vain hope that prosperity would one day return to the land, but any hope had long dwindled out. Tenants were running away from their taxes, farmers were resorted to stealing from other farmers and whore houses had sprung up from all over Achievement City for the most desperate of them all.

Gavin Free was just finished with his client.  
The man was pulling his trousers up, while Gavin was sitting up in the bed wincing. This one had rode him hard with little mercy and Gavin knew there was going to be bruises on his thighs for days. He sighed. Looks like a week without proper comfort from his lovely lads. At least they’d be able to buy a carrot each out of this client. Speaking of which, the man was smoothening his hair and tightening an already straining belt. Gavin cleared his throat and looked expectantly at the man. He finally glanced at Gavin with a sneer on his lips.

“Does the little whore want his money?”

Gavin was not put off, he clambered out of the bed and walked right up to him, Michael in his mind and what he had said to him the other day.

“Don’t let those fuckers boss you around Gav!” he cried loudly causing Ray to run back into their little hovel rather worried. Gavin was washing a bruise that was given to him by a rather demanding woman who was far too rough with Gavin. Michael leaned in and lightly kissed the mottled purple and looked intensely into Gavin’s eyes.

“If those assholes give you trouble again at the mill, you’re leaving, alright? It’s not worth it Gav, you can find another job somewhere else. We might be poor but money ain’t got shit when you’re being shoved around.”

Gavin sighed but Ray was already entwining his hands into Gavin’s.

“He’s right Gavin. We’ve been poorer than this before. We made it out of that, we can do it again!”

Gain smiled and leaned in to embrace them. That night as he blew Michael while Ray was thrusting gently from behind, he made the decision to stay at the whorehouse. They assumed he was working at a mill, if they found out the truth, he’d be lucky if Michael didn’t burn the place down. He also assumed they thought he didn’t know how deep their financial crisis was. He knew, he was simple but he was not a complete moron. Any household that spent a week surviving on purely mashed potatoes was a household in big trouble. He couldn’t afford to leave the whorehouse, not with a constant want from the people of a little relief from the constant tension.  
No he had to stick it out.

He had to for his boys.

The man was now shuffling through his pockets in the effort to retrieve the payment. Gavin performed rather well that night, maybe he’d earn two entire pieces of iron. Gavin’s mouth watered at the prospect of eating anything that wasn’t watery lumpy potatoes. The man triumphantly held a single piece of copper, placed it in Gavin’s hand and headed straight for the door.  
Michael’s voice nearly ringing in his ear, Gavin marched forward and grabbed the man’s shoulder.

“Oi! You don’t give the knob who’ll be washing your cum out of his hair for hours and only give him a copper!”

The man’s hand twitched and the next thing Gavin knew he was back on the bed, his face now burning hot and stinging. The man threw the copper down on Gavin’s limp body and stormed out of the room, murmuring something about a greedy fag. Gavin lay there for a few minutes, breathing heavily while he tried to collect his thoughts. He groaned, a sound was lost among the various other thumps and moans that were coming from the neighbouring rooms. He carefully rolled to the other side of the bed and inspected his face with the handheld mirror. There was already an angry red mark on his cheek but luckily no blood was drawn. He wiped the lipstick of with the back of his hand, remembering with a small shudder when the man told him to put it on and stop confusing him with his manly voice.

Insecure asshole

There was nothing wrong with how he was woken every morning with a heavily callused hand on his cock, rubbing him to properly wake him up. Nor with how sweet Ray’s cum tasted in his mouth while Michael’s, though saltier, had a tang that left a great aftertaste. Don’t even get me started on how wonderful it felt when you were filled up from the back with steady hands moving you in to a rhythm. I guess not everyone had what they had.

After cleaning himself up he walked out of the room where the manager was getting ready to throw out a heavily drunk woman yelling for too loud. Lindsey was a great manager in this shitty place. No matter how crappy things got, her workers came first and god help anyone who crossed them. Gavin casually pretended he had something in his eye in an attempt to cover his cheek while he watched the scene unfold in front of him.

“I want a bit of action! Come on I’ll pay” slurred the woman as she wobbled around the front room. Lindsey was taking none of her shit.

“A drink or two is fine but once I can smell it the minute you walk in here, you’re right back out on the street. Come back when you can learn to take a drink.”

The woman now found her attention on Gavin and lurched forward.

“Oh I remember you now! Pretty little thing, did you dress up for me tonight?”

Gavin’s shoulder crawled where the bruise had just finished healing itself. Lindsey was striding forward when he remembered the single copper he had just received. The earnings tonight were not great and he promised the lads in his head, they’d have a change in diet soon.

“I’ll take her Linds, it’s alright”.

Gavin attempted a smile while Lindsey frowned.

“Gavin, you are finished for the night, you’ve had enough clients. I don’t think you’d be up for handling…” her eyes skirted up and down the drunken mess wobbling in front of her “…this”.

Gavin thought about the pleading look in Michael and Ray’s eyes when they talked about him quitting his job. God Lindsey would be so understanding, a sad smile and a wave as he would march out that door a free man.  
A free, even poorer man than before.  
And that’s why he boldly led her back to his room and allowed her to treat him like shit.  
Because in the end it was always for them.  
***

Ray knew exactly what Gavin was doing and it certainly wasn’t working in a mill. He was too familiar of the bruises around his thighs when Gavin was getting changed to figure it wasn’t regular clumsiness around the workplace. Ray knew his boyfriend was a regular at the whorehouse.

Ray sighed as he cut off the dead leaf off one of the limp tomato plants and placed it in the pile next to him. Michael didn’t know, that is to say he wouldn’t be keeping it on the down-low if he was. If Michael ever figured it out, he would march straight into wherever Gavin was and drag his sorry ass out, whether or not there was someone in it already. Ray wasn’t happy about Gavin in a brothel and it wasn’t a lot to do with the fact that Gavin should be all to himself. Nah that kind of mind-set went way out of the window when people couldn’t afford to live in just a two person household. Families were shacking up with other people and polyamory sort of just made a lot of sense. There were still a few jerks every now and again about an all-male household but they could live with it.

What really bothered Ray about this entire thing about Gavin’s double life was how much they really depended on Gavin’s steady income. Ray knew the sex trade was one of the few prosperous industries around Achievement City, too well in fact.

Ray’s hand nearly crushed the stalk of the plant before shaking his head and clenching his fist. He made a vow a long time ago he’d never be a part of it again. He glanced up at Michael smiling morosely at the meagre catch he was able to hunt today.

“Gavin’s taking his fucking time tonight! Hope the extra shift will be able for more than this old squirrel! We might have to eat Edgar!”

Their cow looked up and mooed in protest to which Michael, patted it in reassurance and went on his way to skin his prize.  
Ray forced a smile and got back to work.  
Whatever the cost I guess, he thought bitterly to himself.  
***

Gavin was nearly hobbling on his way home. It wasn’t even that far of a distance, considering they lived way out of town, but only a solid 35 minute of fast paced walking. However, fast paced walking was just not going to be happening tonight. He limped through the woods and happened upon a strange jingling. He stopped for a second but when the noise seemed to be coming from far away so he continued forward, any other day he would have pursued it but all he wanted was to get home to his lovely lads and sleep. Suddenly he heard the jingling coming straight towards him and Gavin hurried his pace. His thighs were burning and it seemed a wee bit odd to be intimidated by the increasingly loud bells in the forest but Gavin has had enough surprises for one day.

He heard the bells stop and an oddly illustrious voice rang out.

“SIR, MY DEAR SIR! WOULD YOU KIIIIIINDLY INFORM ME WHERE THE NEAREST COW IS?!? I WOULD BE HIIIIIGHLY GRATEFUL FOR YOUR DIRECTION!”

Gavin all too confused at this point about this strange voice. A cow? Why the bloody hell a cow? And what’s up with the weird emphasis on random syllables, what kind of manner of speaking was it exactly? He knew he himself had an odd voice but this was just insane! This voice talked with all the airs and graces of a foppish caricature. The origin of the voice revealed itself as a man sidestepped out of a tree he was behind. Gavin was unsure as to whether he was hiding there or if some strange magic was afoot here.  
Gavin took a closer look at this stranger, oh yeah, this bloke was odd as fuck. While he looked handsome enough, one would even say relatively dashing as his hair was framed his face in an almost sweeping motion and his outfit consisted of black robes with jingly bells on his shoes. He had a little box under his arm but what really caught Gavin’s eye was a twirled pink moustache the strange man was sporting.

The man bowed deeply to Gavin who stayed rooted to the spot as he didn’t really know how to respond to the weirdness of this situation. The man was well on his way to continue though.

“AS I WAS SAAAAYING MY DEAR FELLOW, WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO POINT THE DIRECTION TO A COOOW? I WOULD BE MOST GRAAAATEFUL!”

Gavin didn’t even want to know where this man came from, who he was, what his business was but the robes he was wearing seems polished and the bells gleamed in the setting sun. Gavin could sense an opportunity here.

“What’s in it for me?”

The man continued, wildly gesturing with his arms.

“I HAVE SOME COIN FOR YOU IF YOU WOULD SEND ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION!”

Now here is where things got even weirder.

The man stopped with his antics for a moment and hushed his voice. The air seemed to still and Gavin could feel the hairs on his neck prickling. Even the birds seems to stop twittering in the suspense.  
The man continued.

“But I have treasure if you were to bring me one yourself.”

Gavin remembered to breathe as he processed the information. Treasure? Was he being serious? Was it a trick? This could easily be a scam. Wait, was Gavin being robbed?  
Gavin quickly surveyed his surroundings and listened carefully. Nah his heightened senses told him that there was nothing creeping up on him right now. So… was this guy for real?

The man seemed to take note of Gavin’s worry and twiddled his moustache, returning to his folly.

“COW OR NO COW, YOU COOOOULD JUST TELL ME WHERE I COULD FIND ONE! AND THIS COULD BE YOOOOOURS!”

He reached into his little box and pulled out 4 gold coins. Gavin’s mouth nearly flooded with saliva. 4 gold coins?!? Where the holy hell did he get that much money? That would feed all three of them for a whole month! They would be able to save up a bit more! Buy a few essentials. Take a day off work to go on a little holiday in the forest…  
But wait a minute, if this was just “coin” to the man…what was the treasure. He was just going to give Gavin that much just for showing where he could buy a cow, when he would give Gavin so much more for actually bringing him a cow.

Gavin thought of Edger at home. He was a great cow and all, able to pull the plough as well as any horse and was good company when the other two were busy but…I mean…a cow to riches…. A one-sided chat wouldn’t mean much to emeralds… or rubies…. Or even diamonds!!!  
The man who was patting his little box fondly, looked up at the sun and looked over at Gavin.

“TELL YOU WHAT MY FINE MAAAAN!” he began “I WILL GIVE YOU UNTIL TOMORROW, WHEN THE MOON IS FULL TO DECIDE ON WHAT PATH YOU WILL TAAAAKE. PERHAPS THEN YOU WILL HAVE DECIDED ON WHAT DESTINY MEANS TO YOUUUUUUUUU”.

And with that the man bowed to Gavin and hopped behind the tree again. Gavin peered around the tree to see that nothing was there. He swallowed and hesitantly began walking home again. It was really when the hovel came into distance that the shock of the entire thing wore off and what just happened finally hit him.

He glanced behind his shoulder and declared “Alright what the actual fuck?”


	2. Shit just gets worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cannot believe people are reading this  
> like thanks a million  
> but I'm sorry  
> I'm so so sorry

To say that Gavin Free was quiet that night was an understatement. I mean it’s a fucking miracle when that man learns how to keep his mouth shut for once but this was almost eerie to Michael and Ray.

He seemed pretty normal, he pecked them each on the cheek and emptied his pockets of his pay into the little pouch they kept hidden in the crack in the wall but he was sporting this odd dreamy look about him. He didn’t answer any of their questions about how his day went or if he was still being bullied at the mill, but rather he smiled this strange smile and went outside. Michael who had long finished skinning the squirrel and was now stewing it in a pot over the fireplace shrugged at Ray and continued. Unless Gavin was annoying Michael, he usually left him to his own devices when he got like this. Michael enjoyed the peace and quiet every now and again. Ray went over and checked how much Gavin had earned. Granted it was a little bit more than usual, but nothing to radically change his behaviour like this. Ray decided to give it until after dinner and if Gavin’s mood hadn’t changed by then, he would investigate.

Dinner that night was… interesting. It really consisted of Michael, who was now getting creeped out at Gavin who still hadn’t said a word, making a very forced conversation about it seems the forest is dwindling in its numbers and he might have to go out further in terms of hunting.

“I don’t know, what do you think boi? You know the woods more than anyone?”

Gavin didn’t even look away from the window where he had been watching Edgar for hours.  
Michael slammed his hand down on the table

“GAVIN!!!”

Gavin’s head shot up and was immediately out of that dreamy stupor in a millisecond. He was rapidly looking back and forth between Ray and Michael like some kind of rodent before he realised it was just Michael pissed at him. His shoulders relaxed a little again and he smiled at Michael.

“What’s up love?”

Ray cut in before Michael could retort loudly.

“Is everything alright Vav? You’re a little more spaced out than usual and we’re getting a little worried”.

Gavin took a spoonful of the tiny portion of his stew and wondered how he would answer that question. Should he tell them? He told them everything he knew about himself, as much as that was anyway. It was a bit fuzzy around the beginning. There were the Creepers. And then… there was a loud bang, so loud it hurt his ears (he remembered that bit clearly) and then there was just wondering around aimlessly until someone took pity on him and put him in a workhouse to start earning some wages. That’s where he met Ray and Michael.

After that the rest was history.

Gavin knew he didn’t have a secret from them, let alone a tight enough lid on his stupid mouth but for some reason he felt that this is something he would have to keep from them. No matter his decision, Michael would want to meet this man himself and the worst case scenario is that Michael would try to rob him and despite the stranger being a ridiculous fop of a man, there was an unearthly quality about him that made Gavin uneasy about the thought of messing with him.

Ray on the other hand would refuse Gavin point blank from meeting him again. Even if Gavin were to just choose showing the man where to buy a cow, Ray would not stand for something like that. Ray was definitely the most cautious of the three, and while that wasn’t saying much it was still saying enough.

No

They weren’t going to know about this.

“Nothing I…I just thought I saw a Creeper today” he lied.

This took Michael and Ray aback for a second while Gavin continued on with his stew. Nothing else was said during the meal. Gavin finished his stew, washed his bowl in the sink and said he’d see if there was any gardening that needed to be done. Michael and Ray hung back and cleaned the table down. Michael took out an old knife he once found in the forest and continued whittling a branch he had been working on for the past week. Ray checked outside the window to see that Gavin had returned to leaning against Edgar as he was lying down and absentmindedly petting him. Ray sat down beside Michael and began sewing a patch in one of Gavin’s socks.

“Hey” he started softly.

Michael looked up at him.

“What do you think about this whole Creeper thing?”

Michael shrugged and continued whittling.

“I don’t know dude, I mean the guy was raised by them. It’s bound to have some weird impact on you when you’ve seen one again for the first time in years.”

Ray sighed and focused on the darning.

“You don’t think… it was one of them…I don’t know… coming back for him?”

Michael now fully invested in the conversation put the branch down and chewed his thumbnail.

“They don’t do that, do they? I mean they don’t travel in packs? Why would they want him?”

Ray shrugged in response.

“They have to feel some compassion if they took him in or gave birth to him, or whatever the fuck happened when he was younger.”

Michael thought about this and looked out the window at Gavin. He seemed to be still in a contemplative mood but sensed that someone was watching him. He turned around and gave a happy little wave to Michael and Ray. Michael gave a nod in his direction smiling and then turned to Ray when Gavin went back in to his weird dreamland.

“Nah, it wouldn’t be any Creeper he would know. I mean what little he actually remembers involves an explosion and everyone knows what that means when there’s a Creeper around.”

Ray nodded.

“I guess you’re right. That does raise an interesting question though, do you think he can tell them apart?”

Michael smirked and looked over at Gavin again who just had a beetle crawl on his neck and was thrashing around and squawking like a lunatic.

“Despite the fact he lived with them, I still think he’d be dumb enough to forget which one is which”.

Ray was now laughing at this.

“I don’t know man, I mean I still have trouble you people apart!”

“The fuck is supposed to mean?!”  
***

Ray and Michael had long gone to bed. They had gone out and given him an extra sweet kiss each, telling him not to be too long. Gavin knew if he was going to make a decision it would have to be very soon. It had been an entire day since the meeting and even the customers were commenting on how this one seemed to be in a dozy mood. Lindsey did check on him, and when she found that he just had something to think about, she directed all the clients who essentially just wanted a quick fuck with little to no talking involved. Honestly that woman would be wasting her time there if she didn’t put the fear of God in those who were 5 blocks within her range.

He almost felt bad for making Michael and Ray worry about him, but that Creeper lie was literally the first thing that came into his head. Though he was pretty sure he wouldn’t run off with the Creeper to try and find out more about his past, he’d at least try and converse with it. He wondered if they could even understand him.  
Knowing his stupidity, he’d probably get blown up in the process.

He rolled his tongue around his mouth and gave a little hiss. Edgar mooed softly and nudged his back with his head.

Edgar was right, now was the time to decide what had to be done.

Gavin had been thinking about the consequences to each thing for the past few hours. Granted he still didn’t know if he could trust this man and those gold coins could have been a ruse. Maybe he’s been playing with innocent wanderers all day.

Or maybe he meant well and would gladly give Gavin the 4 gold coins as Gavin would draw out a map to the town centre where the auctions would take place for livestock.  
But then he could also cut out the middle man and just give Edgar over to the man and earn something far more valuable in the process. I mean the man wasn’t asking for a specific gender of the cow, all he wanted was a cow and a cow is exactly what Gavin had.

But that was also Ray and Michael’s cow.

They found it together stuck down some hole in the woods. Gavin had whispered some soft hisses in his ear and when that had calmed him down, they were able to work on the hole together until they were a decent slope to it, which they were able to guide the cow out. Afterwards, when they had led their cow home, Gavin had christened it Edgar and Edgar became a solid part of their family. He had helped with the farm work for years and though the lads always hated to discuss it, Edgar was a solid part of their future when he would get too old to do work. They still had to decide on whether to eat Edgar themselves or sell him off to a butcher but that was for a time that would come in hopefully the far future.

But then treasure…

Gavin pressed his hands against his forehead and clenched his teeth. Why was it him who had to make the decision here?

He honestly considered just calling it a night and would just forget about that stupid man and his stupid little box and just head inside and forget it ever happened. That much worry over something that he would never have the answer to, in such a small time limit was just not worth it. He patted down Edgar and headed inside to where Michael and Ray were sound asleep on their little pile of hay that they had fashioned into a bed. The blanket had been pulled down and while Michael had his arm around Ray’s chest, Gavin was still able to see how it concaved in and showed off an array of his ribs. Gavin knew too well how Michael had a matching pair. Gavin looked around at their little hovel of a home, with its cracked walls, damp floors, creaky furniture and their single blackened pot, to which they stewed everything.

Day in and day out, what kind of a life would you have to live to which you were looking forward to the same meal you eat every day because it actually meant getting food.  
Gavin looked, properly looked at his boyfriends.

At their hallowed bellied and haggard faces

At their crusty fingernails and calloused fingers

At their bags under their eyes and knots in their hair

No

No more

This was going to stop tonight

Gavin marched out of the house and fished out the lead, to which he tied Edgar to his muzzle and began to lead him out of his pen.  
“Sorry Edgar” whispered Gavin sorrowfully but sternly as he led the cow deep into the woods with the full intention of not bringing him back.  
***

Gavin had probably been wondering around the woods for 15 minutes looking for the same tree. Though he could see in the dark better than anyone else he knew, looking for a specific tree took a lot of fucking effort.

At last when Gavin was beginning to worry that he had missed the deadline there was the familiar sound of jingly bells. Gavin spun around to see the dandy man stroll out of his demon tree or whatever weird magic was involved with this guy and gasped as soon as he saw the cow.

“OOOOOHHHH MY GOOOOOOOOOD!!! HE’S BEAUUUUUUUUUUUTIFUL!!!”

The man who was delighted stepped forward and began to scratch under the ear of the cow. Edgar in response began to shiver with bliss and took to the man very well. Gavin was glad of that at least. Edgar was what Gavin had considered a close friend and had been a very good listener on some of Gavin’’ rough days for a few years. Of course he was nothing on Ray or Michael but friends were hard to come by in this economy, profession and especially with his kind of personality. Gavin knelt down and buried his face in Edgar’s hairy hide. Edgar snuffed at the top of his poofy hair, almost as if to try and reassure him that all would be fine. Gavin was going to miss his friend.

“You’ll take care of him won’t you” asked Gavin with the worry very evident in his voice.

The man twiddled his moustache, reached over and patted Gavin’s hand in reassurance.

“DOOOOON’T WORRY MY GOOD MAAAAAAAN! EDGAR HERE WILL BE MOOORE THAN ACCOMMODATED FOOOOOR!”

Gavin paused.

“Hang on… I never mentioned his name…”

The man froze and leaned forward to Gavin, his voice strangely quiet.

“Oh come on Gavin…surely knowing the name of the cow shouldn’t be surprising by now” he leaned back and splayed his arms wide, grinning ear to ear.

“I MEAN LOOK AT MEEEEE! I’M BIZAAAAAAARE!!!”

Gavin burst out laughing at this sheer ridiculousness of the entire situation and Edgar, despite the man’s behaviour, seemed at ease around the man. This in turn gave Gavin some relief. His gut instincts told him that Edgar was going to be just fine with this man. He looked Edgar one last time, face to face and kissed the top of his head. Edgar licked Gavin’s hand. Finally he stood up and looked over at the man, ready to go.

Gavin cleared his throat.

“Now about this treasure…”

The man nodded and whipped out his little box. His breath began to falter as he began to examine the box. With a sombre sigh, he gave it a little kiss, while the tears began to roll down his cheeks.

“NOOOOW MY LITTLE TINY BOX TIM! YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO BE A BIG BOY NOOOOW BECAUSE I HAVE TO GIVE YOU AWAAAAAY! NOOOOOO, PLEASE DON’T LOOOOOK AT ME LIKE THAAAT! I CAAAAN’T TAKE IT!”

The man sobbed and thrust the box into Gavin’s hands.

“TAKE GOOD CARE OF HIIIM! HE LIKES TO HAVE HIS BEDTIME STORIES READ TO HIIIIM AND ALSOOO BIIIIIIG HUGS BEFORE NAPTIIIME!”

Gavin shook the tiny box and his excitement grew from the little rattling sound within it as he shook it. Holy shit, this was happening, he was going to actually own treasure, what the bloody hell could it even be?

A moo interrupted his thoughts and he looked over at the man who untied the muzzle from Edgar, patted it on his head and began to walk away. Gavin was about to call out that Edgar usually needed a good tug to get him to start going anywhere but to his shock, Edgar ambled alongside him.

The man turned around and smiled.

“Don’t worry, he knows I’m just taking him home!”

Gavin frowned in confusion but called out one more time.

“Home? I…I don’t understand! We were his home!”

The man patted Edgar as he walked behind the tree out of Gavin’s sight and disappeared. The man called back.

“Oh you did provide good shelter for him, but this isn’t his world.”

The man winked and waved Gavin off as he walked behind the tree.

“I’LL BEEE BACK FOR MY LITTLE FRIEND IN THE FUUUUTURE! KEEEEP AN EYE ON HIIIIIM! GOOOODBYYYYYYYYE GAVIN OF THE FREEEEEEE!!!”

And with that Gavin was left on his own with the little box and a lead hanging limply by his side.  
***

Gavin winced when he came into sight of their little hovel and saw a light flickering inside.

They were awake

Bollocking bitch this was bad.

Gavin knew he was in trouble but he kept a tight grip on the box and straightened up his shoulders as he marched towards the house. Whatever lashing he was going to get off the lads, it’ll all be worth it once he opens the box and shows them what’s inside.

As predicted that was the first thing he heard as soon as he walked through the door.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!” roared Michael as he charged through whatever helpless furniture lay in his way, hooking his hands around the cuff of Gavin’s shirt and pinning him against the wall. Gavin’s heart sank as he noticed the tear tracks that were on his face. Ray himself was marching forward, sniffling more audibly.

“WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN ASSHOLE?!? WE HAVE BEEN WORRIED SICK! IMAGINE LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW AND FUCK WHO CARES O CLOCK IN THE MORNING TO SEE NOT ONLY EDGAR GONE BUT YOU AS WELL. WE THOUGHT YOU HAD BEEN KIDNAPPED! OR KILLED OR WANDERED OFF OR HAD LEFT US….”

Michael at this stage was visibly crying and leaning into Gavin’s shirt. Ray still hadn’t even touched Gavin. He looked up at him and said in a very cracked voice

“We thought you had gone back to the Creepers or something…”

Gavin now deeply regretted using the Creepers as a lie. He stroked Michael’s forehead and kissed him softly there.

“No, no I would never leave them for ye, they were a big part of my past yeah but you’re the ones I want to spend my future with. I love ye, don’t I?”

Michael at this stage had just buried himself in Gavin’s arms while Ray sighed in relief and rubbed Michael’s back. Michael was always one to get overly emotional, be it rage, joy or sadness, Michael was always the one who got hit the hardest with it. Jesus Christ why didn’t he just say he was fucking tired or something. And now his lads were agitated to fuck and they were going to notice that Gavin had returned but not Edgar.

Speak of the fucking Devil.

“Gavin” started Ray slowly now noticing the empty lead that Gavin was still holding onto

“Where’s Edgar?”

Michael had let go of Gavin and looked confused at the situation that was unfolding.

This was it, no faffing about, just straight to the chase.

“I sold him.”

Naturally, they were upset.

Very upset

Oh yeah they were fucking pissed.

Gavin had a double ended screaming match from Michael and even impressively Ray was managing to keep his voice on tempo with Michael. There were many topics on the agenda for their argument. How dare you not consult us? We needed him. Auctioning off animals was huge in this economy and that decision would require several days or bargaining and planning to actually make a profit. Michael looked fit to throttle Gavin, Ray didn’t look too far behind. But Gavin barely took any of it in. He was doing all he could to stop smiling and potentially getting the shit kicked out of him by the lads. Oh god just wait til he shows them he got them! They’ll buy so much food and clothes and maybe even a new house! With a pool! Gavin always wanted to learn how to swim and Ray could have a massive garden and Michael would be able to have proper weapons and stuff. They’d never be hungry again!

Everything was finally going to be alright!

Wordlessly, Gavin held out the box, undid the clasp and without even looking down at what the contents were, opened it and stared at their faces. He waited for their reaction with a big toothy grin, he waited for the shock, the joy, and maybe Michael would keel over for 3 hours and wake up in a laughing fit. Maybe Ray wouldn’t believe and stick his head into the water waiting to wake up from this incredible dream but then he would realise this was all real and just hold them close, just taking it in.

And Gavin

Stupid moronic Gavin

He would be the hero for once

After all those years of fucking up to the highest degree, to making dumb decisions and being an embarrassment in general would finally get a happy ending.

He waited for this all but it never came

The expressions they were wearing were… confusion?

Was it too much to process for them? Were the priceless gems a rare colour so they didn’t look like anything they had ever seen before? Was it the scale of a dragon or the claw or fang of some mythical beast that they just hadn’t ever heard about before?

Gavin finally looked down.

In the little box, were three shrivelled beans nestled in a row.

Ray was the first one to start

“Gavin…what….what is this?”

Now fear was beginning to strike Gavin, he rustled the box, closed it, reopened it (same result), shook it, checked for hidden latches or compartments, anything

Oh god anything

This can’t be it

No

OH GOD NO PLEASE

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

THIS CANT BE HAPPENING!!!

There has to have been a mistake or a mix-up or maybe the man didn’t understand their deal or gave him the wrong box or maybe he was …he was….  
He was fucking robbed.

Gavin clenched his fist around the box.

Of course, of course that’s what happened. Stupid fucking Gavin being fucking stupid again. But this time it wasn’t a dropped mug or tripping over something. He essentially fucked over everyone’s retirement fund.

His boys were starting to catch on. Michael was now looking up and down at Gavin and the box with the beans as the realisation dawned on him with the force of a truck.

“Gavin…” he began as his fists were shaking and teeth were grinding furiously against each other 

“Did you sell our motherfucking cow… for this shit?”

Gavin didn’t even notice that he had started crying until he felt the tears pooling on his hands. One of them had landed into the box, right onto the beans.  
Ray wasn’t even angry, which for some reason felt worse right now. He was looking at Gavin with this look of hopeless dejection. He was just so confused.

“Gavin…why? Why did you do that?...”

Gavin could barely make the words out of his mouth. He was still looking at the edges of the box, still waiting for a miracle to happen.

“I…” he began in a tiny voice, barely audible amongst the emotion caught in his throat

“I thought we were going to get treasure…” 

Gavin could barely make out what happened next as he felt the wind be forced out of his lungs as a hand clamped down on his throat and he was being forced out through the door and flung on to the ground. He looked up wheezing in fear as Michael stood over him panting with rage. Ray stayed within the house just looking out, emotionless.  
Gavin still had the box held tightly in his hand and raised his arms over his face just in case Michael was about to do something else. Michael didn’t kick him or lash out at all, instead what he did easily hurt Gavin a thousand times more.

“Congrats we’re dead… don’t come back.”

And with that he walked back past Ray and back in to the house. Gavin, the snivelling mess, held out his arm.

“R-Raaay…plee-ee-eease, I-I didn’t mee-ee-eean it…”

Ray stared at him impassively and shut the door.

Gavin stayed there for a minute sobbing in the mud until he stood up and stared out at the forest. Maybe if he found the man again they could do another trade? Gavin looked over at a rusty hoe that was lying about. He took it up forcefully and began to run to the forest.

I’ll make it all better

You’ll see!

Michael and Ray held each other inside the house, wondering how the hell they were going to support themselves now, while they listened to the sounds of fading broken sobs but didn’t try to stop it.  
***

Gavin was tearing himself through the forest, angry, desperate, confused, distraught and utterly alone. He had never sunken this low in his life. He was back to square one. Running through the forest without a place to call home, no family, no friends. Just the clothes on his back and all the fear of the unknown in the world. That and these fucking beans.

“WHERE ARE YOU ASSHOLE?!?” he cried into the night, but to no avail. He was pretty sure this was the spot as to where they met last time. He ran around every tree in the vicinity for a while. Looking for a hole or a button or a trapdoor or fucking anything! But nothing.

This guy had taken Edgar, got rid of some rubbish he was carrying on him at the time and fucking bailed.

How the bloody hell was he ever going to show his face to his lads again. Even if they do let him back into the house he’d never be able to look them in the face. Maybe he’d sell himself full time to the brothel and send all the money home to the house, the whorehouse could provide for him and Linds wouldn’t mind the company or the service. He doubted the lads would even mind finding out where he worked, they’re probably just be relieved that they were going to be pulled out of their mess by the guy who dragged them into it in the first place. Maybe they might forgive him a little bit and let him visit every now and again. Of course he’d be doing their work as well. He could tend the gardens and hunt for them and cook and clean in the house. Just to see them again would be more than enough in the whole world. It would be more than enough than he deserves for what he had done. He didn’t deserve their gentle touches or scorching kisses anymore. He didn’t deserve either of them. He didn’t deserve anything anymore.  
“I wish the Creeper blew me up too” he heard himself say. He stopped and slunk down to the ground in defeat. Rivulets of tears were flowing down his face and once he opened the box again and stared down at the “treasure” that had in seconds ruined his entire life. They weren’t even salvageable, probably even poisonous which added insult to injury. Of course it would probably kill him if he ate them now. Gavin gazed down at the beans as his tears pooled in the box as their companions. He was so tempted to swallow them all now and just be done with it all, but he needed to devote the rest of his life to try and make things better. Before he got up on his trek over to the whorehouse where he would sacrifice the last of his free will, he took the box and hurled it into the woods in front of him.

Gavin got to his feet unsteadily and was about to make his way over to the town when the earth gave a mighty shudder. Gavin nearly fell over when the shudder turned into a steady rhythm and churned the earth beneath. Gavin squealed in terror and hastily climbed up the nearest tree he could find, clambering up it to escape whatever monstrosity was coming. The ground quaked and cracked and a low moan echoed through the roots of the trees as they snapped and twisted to make way for something else

Something huge

Gavin nearly swallowed his tongue in shock when he saw two enormous stalks rise from the ground and curl around each other, higher than the flowers

Higher than the branches

Higher than the trees

Higher than…than the clouds?

What seemed to be forever only happened in half a minute and it was over as soon as it started. Two whirling twirling tightly constricted thick stalks that trunked at the bottom and rose high out of the earth to the point where Gavin couldn’t even see the top. He gingerly climbed down from the tree and went over to the massive plant to inspect it. He hesitantly touched the base, almost waiting for it to reach down and attack him but nothing seemed to happen. It was warm to the touch but besides that there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Except for the fact it was like a million feet high or something!

Gavin didn’t even know how to react, was this the work of the Devil? Of God? Of some weird magical creature he didn’t know abo-

Wait

Know that he was closer it did seem to resemble to sort of grotesque version of a…a…

“Beans…” whispered Gavin as the impact of what had just happened came crashing down.

Holy shit it was all his fault. When he threw the beans from the magic man and they had water already technically and I guess when they hit the ground…

Fuck me

Like, what was he even supposed to do about this? Run back and tell the others, I doubt they’d be in a truce mood this early. Run to the town? They’d surely inform King Hullum and then there would be a team of scientists and gardeners and magicians or whoever would really be in charge of something like this. And then they’d want to study it so they’d clear off the area… not let anyone in. Gavin wouldn’t be able to find out more about it, all three of them would probably be relocated. Maybe they’d request a different part of Achievement City… far away from Gavin…

No one else had to know about this…right now.

Until he’d find a way to repay the debt he owed to the lads, this would have to remain a secret. He couldn’t risk losing them, not over something like…. Well whatever the hell this was…

Why would the magic man even give Gavin something like this?

I mean he did call it treasure and put it in a box he clearly had affection for, unless he was lying and trying to drop these beans on to someone else so they wouldn’t be his problem anymore, but there were way easier methods to do that. Maybe he was actually going to give these as honest to God treasure to Gavin, but maybe didn’t realise that he had left out the instruction manual to go with it.

So if these beans were actually considered treasure, how were the stalks valuable themselves? They certainly made for quite the attraction but once again once the King finds out about this, it’s going to be off limits to someone like Gavin. Maybe it secreted a sap or something that would heal all ails or create immortality or something like that.  
Then Gavin slapped his head in annoyance.

Of course idiot! The fruit! Whatever it’s growing can surely be harvested for a fortune. Not only would they have more than enough food to last several lifetimes but they’d be able to sell the rest for a fortune!

This is what the magic man meant by treasure!

Gavin did a little jig and surveyed the monstrous plant before him. He certainly couldn’t see any fruit in the distance but maybe if he climbed…higher?

Surely he’d be able to see something worth harvesting at the top. Wouldn’t be that hard to climb such a thing.

He looked once more in the direction of the house.

“Don’t worry lads” he started in a determined voice

“I’m going to fix the mess I made!”

And with that, he spat on his palms and rubbed them vigorously and began to haul ass up the giant beanstalk.


	3. What the fuck is this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, I temporarily moved country for a bit to sort myself out.  
> Still though i cannot believe that this work has this many hits.  
> There is no hope for us all if this is what people want to read.

Jesus Christ this thing was fucking high.

Gavin didn’t know how long he had been climbing but he noticed that the sun was indeed rising and he was kicked out of the house late at night. His arms were beyond aching and at this point, he thought they were going to fall off completely. His shoes were absolutely fucked from the climb and the chilly early air was starting to nip at the toes that were poking out. Every time he thought he saw something in the distance, be it a resting spot or a giant bean that he could harvest, it turned out to be another fucking leaf, so he climbed on.

Hours and hours went on, with the pain only getting worse each time he heaved himself up further. His hands and feet constantly searching for ridges for another foothold, his arms and knees used to latch on to the beanstalk for security. All the while, he was coming in and out of cramps in his joints. There were moments where he would pause, only for a second, and think about how good it would feel to just let go. It would be so simple and the relief was at this stage an intoxicating thought. It would feel just like flying and though the bliss wouldn’t last long, it would be worth it. Those thoughts came and went, but every time Gavin was about to loosen his grip, he’d look up and could swear he could see something different in the distance and he’d drag himself, further up the beanstalk.

Higher and higher

It got even worse when he reached the clouds. Gavin didn’t know that clouds were cold, but now from enough experience to last a lifetime, he could very much conform that clouds were giants balls of snow that got lost on the way down and couldn’t be arsed to do anything else but sit there and be the freezing cold assholes they were.

That and he was damp as fuck.

He was learning too much about clouds at this point but the sunny days he’d lay on down on the grass and watch the clouds go by and make shapes were tainted forever.  
Fucking assholes these clouds.

And on and on and on it went, Gavin in the clouds.

What’s worse is that now he couldn’t fucking see a goddamn thing so he didn’t even know if he was actually getting anywhere! Though what kept Gavin going at this point was his boys down below. Gavin wondered if they were looking for him, he doubted it, they were pretty pissed last night. Lindsey would certainly notice that he was missing, but besides a few inquiries to the other workers, he didn’t think she would go out of her way to find him. Maybe she figured that he quit on her or moved to a different part of Achievement City. She’d wish him well in spirit and move on with her life. Besides those three, he didn’t have any other friend. Hell, he couldn’t even count Edgar anymore die to him being sold (or robbed, Gavin had still yet to decide).

Christ what a fine mess of things he had made.

Perhaps climbing this massive beanstalk was penance for all the shit he had given his boys and now this was his penalty. His purgatory of heaving, pulling, sweating, shivering, aching and stinging.

Reflecting on these thoughts, Gavin didn’t even notice that was now able to fully wrap his arms around the stem.

Or that the leaves were as small as his arms now, rather than a meter in length each.

Or that his head had just missed thwacking off some cobblestone.

Or that if he squinted to the far left, he would be able to see something that was not just more clouds.

Gavin was still deep in that particular headspace when the beanstalk around him began to tilt. He hadn’t even realised he had reached the top and the weight could no longer support him. He wrapped his arms all the way around but he could feel his part of the plant leaning, weighed down by Gavin. He screeched as he was brought down at a rapid speed but no sooner had a second gone by where he was dangling in the air, holding on to the stalk for dear life, when he slipped out and landed on pavement.

Wait…

Pavement?...

Gavin his eyes and rolled over. He carefully sat up and felt the ground he was on. No this was….definitely cobblestone…in the sky?

How the fuck did cobblestone get all the way up here?

Gavin got up on shaky legs. He seemed alright. No broken bones, cuts, injuries in general. Though he did feel like 10 years of his life had been lost to that climb. The cobblestone was firm when he took a step; yeah he wasn’t going to fall through this anytime soon.

So what could he do but just keep walking?

I mean the path was only going in one direction. It seemed to lead to this…well it could have only have been described as a behemoth of a thing in the distance. Gavin began to walk towards it to see it was only getting bigger as he closed in on it. What on earth was it? It can’t have been something that could have been seen from the ground and yet it’s able to stay in the sky, perched like a bird, only getting bigger in size with every step. Sure Achievement City was never seen without a light blanket of clouds in the sky but surely they would have seen something to this magnitude. I guess you have to know what you’re looking for and Gavin certainly wouldn’t have even dreamed of this.

Coming even closer he noticed that they were flowers growing around him, sprouting from soil that just sat on the clouds. What was even stranger was that the flowers seemed absurdly massive, to the point where he was level with the daisy he just walked by. Stems of grass went up to his neck and he was relieved that he didn’t have to wade through something like that and kept strictly to the footpath. A thought occurred to him whether the variety of insects that might be here would be of the same calibre and he pressed swiftly on at the thought.

Gavin’s brain was still in the process of just wrapping his mind around the whole ordeal when he looked up and nearly collapsed at the discovery.

The colossal entity that sat in the distance came into view and had in fact turned out to be the biggest and grandest castle Gavin had ever seen in his entire life!

Gavin had passed by King Hullum’s castle a few times in his life and it might have been something to look at in the past but today it was a modest little thing that reflected the state of the land.

This was…

Well, this was just something else entirely altogether!

He kept walking towards and began to make out the sheer detail of the thing itself. The castle towered so high above him, he couldn’t even see where it finished at the top. Turrets jutted out from all sides with windows of stained glass jut out in ascending rows. Arches like spider web hung between them and along the sides sat gargoyles of varying size and ferocity, while beautiful banners hung beneath them. A moat surrounded the castle with a gigantic drawbridge that was luckily lowered, connected Gavin to the fortress of sorts. While crossing the drawbridge, he could have sworn there was something stirring the water beneath him. He quickened his pace.

Finally upon reaching the door, he quickly realised that it would take the strength of an entire army to push open one of these. He looked around for openings or cracks that he could sneak in but to no avail. Right, so this way wouldn’t work. He walked on around the castle. Looking for any sort of entry that would be small enough for him, but the castle seemed to be impenetrable. In his haste to find a hole in the wall, he fell flat on his face, completely missing the rock that had been in his way. Already in a miserable state from this entire experience he picked up the rock and sent it flying without even looking in frustration.

SMASH

The rock had hit the side of a low hanging window and there was a tiny crack in the corner, leaving a jagged gap that someone like Gavin could crawl through…  
Well, he had come this far.

While climbing anything was the absolute last thing that Gavin wanted to do for a while, the stones and blocked that the castle was made of made the trek much easier than that wretched beanstalk. Finally reaching the window, and nudging any broken glass off the ledge with his foot, Gavin crouched down and very carefully slid his way in to the castle.  
***

Ray had looked out the window for what seems to be the hundredth time that day. Michael was still furiously ploughing the field for the next planting season. Though they didn’t have Edger anymore Michael was fuelled with enough rage to certainly get the job done. He was only too relieved that Gavin hadn’t stuck around and had ran off in to the night.  
Ray wrung the wet cloth in his head tightly, almost wishing for it to be replaced with Gavin’s head. God he was angry.

Like really fucking angry.

How could he do this to them?

Selling an essential part of their life for worthless airy-fairy shit?

He was shocked that it was Edgar that Gavin traded, considering Gavin loved that cow more than any of them, calling it his friend much to Michael and Ray’s previous amusement. What could have possibly convinced him that these beans were worth as much as an entire able- bodied cow?

Was he robbed?

It was certainly a possibility, maybe he was leading Edgar to the market or an actual deal for coins when someone held him at knifepoint and took the cow away from him. Maybe in his blind fear of the consequence of the heinous crime, he found some old beans and fabricated this entire story about selling the cow for magic beans.

But then why did Gavin look utterly convinced he had done them right when he showed them the box? No that theory didn’t make any sense. Gavin had looked honest to God like he had gotten that box on purpose, so what else could have happened?

Was he scammed?

That was probably the most likely of theories as to what had happened. Perhaps he was told of something valuable within the box and he was so excited about the prospect of extraordinary wealth, he had accepted he gift before checking to see if the pay was genuine. Disappointment was one of the many emotions that swam on his face when he saw what was in the box.

As well as anger, torment, confusion and fear.

Though the fear part didn’t kick in until he looked up at them.

Rightfully too.

It had been a day and they were still in full rage mode. Michael had handled it by going about his usual chores but with such added passion that any little thing going wrong was treated to such a flurry of threats and swears screamed wildly in to the air that Ray was relieved that they lived far away from the town.

Ray’s anger… Michael was volatile, a candle that burned at both ends and raged loudly and openly. Ray on the other hand, his anger was more of a slow burner. It was hardly less than Michael’s, oh god he just wanted to hurt Gavin in some way just to get some sort of relief, but rather than let it out, Ray just went on with the day and let it stew and fester within him. Invisible to all except the little noises when he was grinding his teeth or maybe when he rubbed the pot more forcefully than usual.

Oh yeah, they were still fucking pissed.

What was weird about the situation was that usually, this was around the point where Gavin had shown up with some sort of apology.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like they’ve never fought before, oh god no!

They’re relationship wasn’t perfect like that.

Gavin has had his fair share of accidents around the home. Accidently weeding up the growing vegetable plants, ripping holes in his shirts and even one time where he tripped and fell right on to their only chicken, snapping its neck in the process.

And it would always be the same. Screaming matches within the house and Michael calling Gavin every name under the sun until the boy would leave weeping and they wouldn’t see him for a full day. Gavin never talked about what he went through on those nights, but Ray was sure that Gavin would be spending all night as to how to help the situation and the next day implanting that plan into action. Believe me he was a drastic man. Some of the things he did were almost bordering lunacy. Like he’d spend all night sorting out the weeds he pulled out and travelling to other farms throughout the town comparing what he had pulled up to other shoots that were growing and then carefully planting them again with fertiliser that he had found by following a goat for an hour.

Or the time that he had walked through the village in the early hours of the morning, studying people’s clothes and upon seeing a loose thread, would pick at them carefully until they fell away into his hands. They found him that evening with bloody fingers as he had tied the string to a particular large looking thorn and had been sewing his shirt (quite badly) back together.

There was even that time after they had plucked that dead chicken for feathers and eaten it for supper (no point wasting it) that Gavin had returned with a completely shaved head and a little chick within his cupped hands. Ray had found out through the town gossip that he had sold his hair to a wiggery and had spent the money to buy a female chick. 

It was always these moments when Michael and Ray would just sigh and let him back into the house. The awkward tension would have evaporated within a week and then the household would seem normal again as Michael would drop a kiss on Gavin’s head, mumbling sweet nothings after a particularly hard day of hunting.

It wasn’t any of their fault that tensions were always high. It was a shitty lifestyle where anything could ruin them. This seeming to be the biggest one. They always seemed to come through in the end, with Gavin somehow wrangling up a solution out of fucking nowhere.

I swear those Creepers messed with his head as a child and gave him these weird ideas. 

Ray could barely imagine how Gavin was going to fix this one. Michael tossed the hoe to the ground and picked up his bow. He stalked into the woods. Looks like Michael was going on a night long hunt to blow off some steam, and Gavin didn’t look like he was coming home either.

Ray threw the cloth the ground and slunk to the floor, banging his fists against the ground.

Fuck you Gavin

Why the fuck did you always have to do this to us?  
***

Gavin surveyed his surroundings as to what seemed like the most extravagant living room of all time. Heavy curtains hung on both sides of the window while plush armchairs sat snugly in front of a currently empty fireplace. Hairy carpets lay on the floor, illustrious in swirling patterns that mimicked waves of the sea. The sunlight coming in was bouncing off the glossy wooden panels on the walls. Gavin inhaled deeply to the rich smell of warm fabrics coming from the tapestry. There was a nice “clean” smell that he just wasn’t used to.

He walked along the window frame, trying to decide where to go next. Luckily the door leading in to this room was ajar which luckily meant he didn’t have to break anything else. He grabbed the left curtain and slid his way carefully down the drapes, coming to a soft landing on the blue carpets. Scurrying over to the door, he made a mental note to himself that the silent approach was probably for the best as he was still in a completely unknown world. Sliding himself through the gap in the door, he found himself in what seemed to be an endless corridor. Doors upon doors stretched out before him and Gavin swallowed at the thought of potentially getting lost in them. Thinking for a minute, he decided to take out one of his extra threads that he had used to sew up a tear in his shirt in the past and tie it to a splinter of wood that was jutting out slightly to the side.

Gavin walked on, always to the far side of the hallway, just in case someone, or something appeared abruptly. Every now and again he’d look back to see how far he had gone and while it felt like he had walked for miles, he was only ever a few doors away. A half hour of walking might mean he had only made five doors of progress. Just how big was this place exactly?

Finally after it seemed like he was walking for an age, he happened upon double doors with a smallish gap in the middle of the opening that would be Gavin’s size. Creeping up to the door, he nearly keeled over there and then when the smell hit him. Rich aromas of something sweet and salty hit him immediately and forgetting all past discipline about a low-key exploration, he barrelled his way in to the room.

Gavin had found the kitchen. While normally he would have marvelled at the gleaming pots that could potentially fit an entire family in and cook or the painted designs on the walls or even a vast table that would have taken the entire forest of Achievement City to make, it was what lay on top of the table to caught his eye. Three fat buns sat on a china plate, pink frosting at the top and oozing down over the sides, topped with a round cherry. Gavin, completely forgetting himself, consumed by a stomach that hasn’t been fed in around two days, grabbed the side of the low hanging table cloth and began to brutally wrangle his way up. Flailing wildly, hooking his feet within the patterned holes and using not just his arms but his teeth to pull himself up in a mad scramble.

Five minutes after potentially ruining the table cloth, he hurled himself up on the table, lunged forward and smashed his face into the first bun he could get his hands on. Jam exploded in to his mouth and he couldn’t contain the groan he made as he tore of chunks of the bun and shoved them down his throat. He barely chewed what was entering his mouth, rather attempting to get it into his belly as fast as he could first. His stomach heaved and he nearly threw up the contents of his stomach as his body tried to process the sudden massive intake of food it had never been exposed to before. He swallowed roughly and began to take deep, slow breaths. Licking the sugar off his lips, he finally savoured the taste of the bun in his mouth. He hadn’t had jam since two years ago after a great harvest when they had enough money to spare to treat themselves to a little tub each. It tasted as good now as it did back then. He ripped off another chunk of the dough and began to take considerably smaller bites of the thing, to avoid his body going into shock.

There looked to be a tiny flute with a bunch of flowers on a counter at the other side of the room. Though the glass had a frosted quality to it, he could see the water that was keeping those flowers hydrated from within. He hadn’t realised just how thirsty he was until then and the jammy bun didn’t make things easier. Jumping up, he ripped the cherry right off the top and with the other bit of dough, he dropped them over the side and began to climb down. Using the holes he had previously made as footholds he was able to make it down rather easily. With the cherry and the dough and what appeared to be an arduous task of climbing up a tea towel rack, he took off his shirt, squashed the dough around the cherry and tied the whole thing to his back. Though uncomfortable and sticky, it had done the job well. The climb was much harder but not impossible now that he was in the midst of a sugar high. The glass was far too slippery to climb and he didn’t know what else to do, so he took a few steps back and with a running start, used his entire force to push over the glass. It toppled to the side but luckily didn’t fall to the ground and smash.

The last thing that Gavin wanted was for something to be alerted by a loud noise and come running.

He bent down and lapped up as much water as he could, before for one of the few times in his life, he felt fully sated.

And god damn did it feel good.

He felt a yawn coming about and he decided he’s had more than enough adventure for one day. He looked around for a place to sleep and decided that somewhere deep in the cupboards would be a good hiding spot. Though it took him a minute or two to finally heave open the latch to the press. He picked up a large flowery tea cosy and went to the very back of the press. Untying the doughy cherry from his back, he made himself home amongst the cutlery and assorted kitchen knick-knacks and nestled deep into the tea cosy. He nibbled at the side of the cherry and relished the dark sweetness of the fruit.

His eyes closing, he wondered about how on earth all of this was possible.

Was it a dream? Had he finally snapped and gone completely mad? Did he die climbing up the beanstalk and this was Heaven?

Taking another lick at the cherry he deemed that the taste of something like that could not be imagined.

Well then, if this was all real, than he wondered as to what the next course of action would be. He still had to fix up with Michael and Ray in terms of his debt, so that was priority number one. At the same time though, this labyrinthine place surely had to be explored, as well as the inane curiosity to see what could have built such a thing.

He figured if he stuck around a bit longer he would find out.

Before he finally drifted off to sleep he wondered how soon that would be.


	4. What the fuck is that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my friends found out I was writing this, they shouldn't be that supportive if this!

Turns out he didn’t have to wait that long at all.

Gavin woke up abruptly when he heard it

Clomp

Clomp!

CLOMP!

Immediately he sat up and clutched the edge of the tea cosy. His heart pounded and he could taste the copper in his mouth from biting his tongue in fear, desperately holding back a scream. The sound had made it to the kitchen and was beginning to rustle around. It paused abruptly and just when Gavin was summoning up the courage to crawl to the door and sneak a peek, the kitchen seemed to explode.

“GOD DAMMIT RYAN!!!!!!!!!”

The entire press seemed to shake with the tremendous force and Gavin, acting on his most basic instincts, dove deep into the tea cosy and buried his face into his hands, desperately trying to muffle the moans of terror that were escaping his mouth uncontrollably. He barely registered the trickle of piss that ran down his legs as the fear took over his body and left him paralysed.

And then more clomping could be heard.

Another set of footsteps seemed to enter the kitchen and Gavin could only listen as he prayed that they wouldn’t be needing any of their teapots soon enough. From what he could gather, there were currently two of the residents of the castle in the kitchen as of this moment and they seemed to be having an argument, given the tone of the first monster’s voice.

“HOW MANY TIMES IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN? YOU CAN’T JUST LET YOUR ANIMALS ROAM THE HOUSE! LOOK AT THE MESS THEY’VE MADE!”

There was a pause before the other monster answered.

“I check the inventory every night and every morning Jack. Nothing was out of its containment. This isn’t my mess.”

“WELL WHOSE WAS IT? CAUSE GEOFF WAS WITH ME ALL DAY AND IT DID NOT LOOK LIKE THIS THIS MORNING!”

There was no more rustling around the kitchen that seemed to be edging its way closer to the cupboard. Gavin had to shove his entire fist in his mouth to stop himself from out and out screaming in panic.

“Yes there does appear to be smaller bite marks on this bun, maybe I missed something this morning?”

The other monster just huffed and what followed appeared to be even more clattering. There was more movement.

“Here. You go outside and enjoy the sunshine and I’ll clean up the mess. I’ll go down, check the pens again and I’ll even make you tea. Will that make it up to you?

Another pause.

And then a sigh.

“That sounds lovely. Thanks hun.”

More muffled rustling before a squishy sound and then one of them walked out. Gavin sighed in relief before the words suddenly smacked him with full force.

I’ll even make you tea.

Oh fuck me

Gavin frantically looked around for another hiding place. Naturally the teapot was out of the question. He scrambled out of the tea cosy and scrabbled for a hole or a crack in the wall or anything really! Finally when the footsteps seemed to be heading towards the cupboard, his mind went blank and seeing a mug with a large chip in it, he jumped behind it and hoped that whatever they were, they were extremely picky about how they liked their tea served.

He heard the latch lift.

The door swung open.

Gavin couldn’t have even squeaked in terror at this point but he was convinced his thudding heart could have been heard a mile away. He looked over slightly to his left and nearly keeled over in shock.

An… an ENORMOUS hand was groping around in the dark of the press. The length of the whole thing was easily his size with fat fleshy fingers that could easily lift him up and squash him into jelly.

At the time of entry, Gavin did have his suspicions as to what lived here and while it should have been obvious beforehand as to what exactly what they were at the time, perhaps it was the sheer weight of the entire situation that brought upon this slow uptake of what was happening.

Gavin, and he still didn’t understand why or how this could have happened, had found himself within the home of giants!

The hand grabbed the teapot it was looking for and shut the door behind it. Gavin slunk to the ground. He was panting and his trousers were sopping wet.

Surely this is it.

This is the sign that it was time to just pack it in and race back home.

If he even could.

I mean… look at the size of the hand! Just the hand!!!

And those two giants weren’t the only ones!

This talk of another and probably countless more, lurking about in his hellhole.

The most logical thing to do was to probably race home as fast as he could and throw himself at the lads begging for forgiveness.

They’d never believe him though. They could probably sell parts of the beanstalk for some gold, but maybe others have found it by now. Oh shit maybe there are others climbing it right now…what if they were his boys?!?

Gavin closed his eyes and counted to ten.

He had to remind himself that while he had been gone long, he hadn’t been gone very long and that was the key difference. While he knew he’d normally have sort of fixed things by now, he was still convinced that they were angry at him.

And just think of what these giants could be hiding in this house.

Giant slabs of gold or giant crystals!

Gavin huffed out a tired laugh, he always seemed to convince himself to reach out for more.

Perhaps he was too greedy.

And besides while they were terrifyingly, shit your pants big, he was still absurdly small to them.

If he stayed in the shadows, hid behind other objects and just kept quiet in general, surely he’d be able to avoid them just fine. He had essentially just evaded them after all. He just needed to get to know this place and soon he’d be scurrying back and forth between rooms no bother at all.

Patience and care.

That’s what would get him through this.

Gavin rolled up his sleeves, reached over to the piece of sugared dough he had brought with him and began to plan.

He’d be back in bed with his lovely lads before he knew it!  
***

Gavin had been gone an entire week now.

And Michael was starting to lose it.

He was out in the woods with his bow cocked and listening for sounds. It had gotten to the point where he was so nervous that any strange sound would have an arrow in its neck within seconds. He heard a series of taps and while he didn’t lower his bow, his shoulders relaxed slightly. Caleb slid down from his hiding place in a nearby tree, looked around furtively and walked towards Michael.

“Bit early in the week to arrange a meeting” noted Caleb, eyes scanning the perimeter rather than address Michael to his face. Though he understood why Caleb would be extra fidgety in this situation, he still ground his teeth at being objectively ignored. He just skipped straight to the point.

“Listen, I’ve been thinking about it and I want to go full-time, no more odd-jobs here and there.”

Caleb, now with his complete attention on Michael, widened his eyes in surprise. He grabbed Michael’s shoulder and leaned in closer.

“Are you sure about this? What you were doing before, you could back out of anytime. This is the serious shit you’re talking about. You’ll never be able to give it up, Joel will own you.”

Michael had heard of Joel’s reputation before, hence why he had been so cautious about entering the smuggling trade. Gavin and Ray had no idea about it, how Michael would go off into the woods for hours on end and only come back with a small catch. Sure it should have been highly implausible at the time but in these economic conditions where the animals of the forest were dwindling in large quantities to feed an entire nation, even they couldn’t sense anything suspicious about Michael’s seemingly fruitless ventures for food. He had known Caleb for many years now, from the odd-job of transporting a bundle of cloth here, a pregnant mare there. Michael would mark a scratch on their meeting tree and a week later Caleb would meet him there with something that needed to be traded. He would never ask questions about the cargo, just take it, bring it to the next location, earn a few coppers and go home. He would add his wage to the bag, along with Gavin’s money from the mill and Ray’s yearly earnings from selling half of their produce. They had all struggled and Michael suspected that Gavin and Ray weren’t completely guiltless of their own little money hacks that got them through the day. But they had got by all right.

And then Gavin disappeared.

Like Edgar was really fucking important but at this point Michael could barely remember why. He had replayed the scene in his head like a loop, over and over again. Kicking Gavin out of the house. His head wasn’t so great these days and he was prone to blackouts but surely he had said something else to Gavin before he banished him.

Surely there was something that alluded to some kind of forgiveness in time.

Every night before going to sleep, over and over again, just to make sure but in the end it would always come right back to those words.

“Congrats we’re dead… don’t come back.”

Michael had kneaded his head, punched the walls and had openly screamed at the sky, begging to the Gods for the memory returning to him where he had actually added “don’t come back tonight” or “don’t come back for a while”. He didn’t really mean for Gavin to completely disappear from their lives forever, did he?

He was angry, so fucking angry that he wanted to tear down the entire house and shatter Gavin in to a million pieces. Michael, even back when he was a child, was prone to these angry fits of rage which were uncontrollable to the adults and terrifying to the other children. Always yelling the battle cry of “ITS MOGAR!!!” before launching himself at anyone who bothered him. A complete loner of a child and carted from one orphanage to the next until finally he was warned that he would be thrown out onto the streets if he didn’t cop the fuck on. Ray was always one for advice and that’s exactly what he needed from the skinny kid who was shunned for the different shade of his skin. Though not completely alienated by Michael’s temper, he replied to being called every name under the sun with a bored look of contempt. Ray never ran, he never cried and he never even hit back. He just looked up at Michael and while he wiped his bloody nose he said three words that changed Michael’s life forever.

“Deal with it”.

Michael never asked what Ray meant that day; whether he was referring to his shitty life, no parents, and no possibility of a future or even the fact that this kid was just never going to leave him alone. He didn’t want to know. He felt he got the message, whatever it was.

Soon Michael begrudgingly sat next to him while he played in the dirt. After that they became inseparable. The other kids quickly backed off Ray as he seemed to have acquired an extensively aggressive guard dog and Michael just appreciated the company. That seemed to be the plan. Just Ray and Michael, against everything in the world forever.  
And then Gavin was brought in by the local authorities.

Michael remembered when they led him in to the room. This little child sucking his thumb and looking around the room with bewilderment. Whispers echoed throughout the room as everyone had the exact same question on their minds.

What the hell happened to him?

Gavin was covered, head to toe, in vicious burns and bandages. While it would have been amusing on every other day, the harsh jagged skin with oozing blisters poking out between wraps caused the other children to back away slightly. No one went near him but he didn’t seem to mind. The girls would run away screaming and he’d take their place on a little pillow and play with the dolls they had dropped or kick around the ball that had been abandoned when they saw him coming. He seemed oblivious to the general panic around him and continued with his life.

But Michael wasn’t happy about it. Ray might have been fine with just letting him go about his befuddlement but Michael was bursting with curiosity about him. He was almost jealous of how cool he looked. Michael strut over one day while Gavin was picking the petals off the weeds, Ray in tow and demanded

“What the hell happened to you?”

Gavin blinked at him for a second, burst into this silly grin and replied

“Hi! I’m Gavin!”

Michael rolled his eyes

“I know your name is fucking Gavin. What the fuck happened to you though? Did you jump in a fire or something like that?”

Gavin just grinned back.

“I’m Gavin!”

Ray grabbed Michael’s hand just in time before he beat the leaving snot out of him and dragged him away. Michael was fuming being led away but when he turned his face, he was shocked to find Gavin happily following them.

“I’m Gavin!”

What followed after that was an entire week of Gavin relentlessly tagging along behind Ray and Michael, while Michael did everything in his power not to throw him into the mud. Ray finally turned around and addressed him.

“Hi Gavin. I’m Ray and this is Michael” addressing to both of them.

Gavin stopped short and promptly burst out laughing. They watched helplessly as he fell to the floor, chortling with laughter. The wild giggling caused some of the nearby children to notice him and run away from the swing set screeching loudly that the freak was coming. Michael and Ray eyed the now conveniently empty swing set and both immediately considered the same idea.

The harried nursemaids were confused but grateful that the abandoned loner, the orphan with the behavioural issues and the burnt stray who didn’t seem to understand social queues seemed to band together and never leave each other’s side. None of the other kids ever associated with them but they seemed content enough. And while friendships came and went within the household, theirs only solidified. Even growing to something more.

It was while Ray was teaching Gavin about how to properly use the phrase “none of” in a sentence while they lay under the shade of a tree when Gavin cocked his head and said

“I love you”.

Ray full on stopped talking and left his mouth hanging open almost comically. Michael who was nodding off, sat up in shock, eyes wide at Gavin. Gavin simply looked over in Michael’s direction and said it again.

“I love you”.

And then he got up, patted them both on the head and went skipping off back inside.

Michael and Ray merely sat there in disbelief. Michael leaned over to Ray.

“Did you teach him that?”

Ray shook his head.

“Maybe he heard it from someone else? Or one of the ladies?”

The task of teaching Gavin how to speak fell into their hands. Day in and day out they would sit him down and list off the names of various objects and basic sentence structure. Fair play to Gavin, for what a dope he seemed to be, he actually caught on to the English language faster than they assumed. Wherever he came from must not have needed a language that required talking. They tried doing various hand movements, gestures or jumping up and down but Gavin only seemed to think it was a fun game and they just assumed he was slow.

One night though they were looking through one of the books for the older children, but Gavin was a good enough climber for him to get it off the top shelves and they were reading through it, shivering at the well-illustrated sketches of monsters like Pig-men and Endermen, when they happened upon a page with a fully drawn Creeper. While Michael and Ray baulked at the sight, the last thing they expected was a happy squeal from Gavin and for him to start tapping on the page. They stared at him I confusion and were about to explain the nature of the creature when Gavin let out a hiss. They shot up and darted to the other side of the room in fear, clutching each other’s arms. Gavin looked startled at the sudden change in mood and began to tear up. Rubbing his eyes, one of his bandages rolled down, revealing the mottled, scorched skin underneath.  
It didn’t take a genius to tie two and two together.

How Gavin was around these Creepers without them trying to kill him for so long was beyond them both but it must have been a while since this child had no knowledge of decorum in their society. Little things like sleeping in trees or pissing his pants nonchalantly in the middle of his room were really funny at first but now there was an edge to his behaviour that meant he wasn’t just this simple kid who didn’t give a shit about the rules, he was the kid who was raised by creatures of the night.  
And Michael and Ray thought that was the coolest shit ever.

When it was old enough to leave the orphanage, they never strayed from each other and built themselves a shack, far away from anyone else, trying to adopt their loner lifestyle. It took a few years, leaning in too closely, giddy nights of hugs that lingered too long and trying to convince themselves that the only reason they all shared a bed was because of economic reasons, until finally Michael woke up to find his nose brushing against Ray’s lips. He nudged Ray slightly, who slowly opened his eyes, smiled and parted his lips, placing a chaste kiss on his nose.

“My lips are down here dumbass.”

Gavin just grinned beside them, happy that they had finally figured out what he had known for years. Pffft and they called him slow!

All that.

All that fucking gone in one night.

Michael stared at Caleb, long and hard, in order to reaffirm what he had just decided.

“When do we start?”  
***

Gavin had spent the last week, setting up some kind of system throughout the castle. He had wanted to come home victorious much sooner but these damn giants weren’t leaving their valuable around the house willy-nilly. Every day he would venture a little bit further, checking to see what has changed in terms of rooms that have been left ajar, making a mental note as to what each of these rooms contained in terms of value and then picking off a piece of the string in his shirt to mark off the door with the others. He had stumbled into various rooms such as lounges, a massive library, a room with walls of glass with plants in it for some reason, a room that had a table with bottles of liquid decorating dozens of shelves and even a room where he had found the biggest fucking bed he had ever seen in his entire life. You could have probably fit their little shack, several times on the bed.

And while these rooms were filled with wonders of which he had never seen before, nothing was small and valuable enough that he could transport it home and sell it and make a mint. There were books that probably had information in them worth a lot of money but carting an entire giant sized book down the beanstalk was a little too extreme. That and Gavin couldn’t figure out which pages were valuable to rip out as the squiggly lines meant fuck all to him. There were beautiful paintings around the house, as well as crystal figures and pretty spun glass. In Achievement City however, art meant jack shit anymore as it wouldn’t pay for anything. It would have to be a jewel small enough to get back home easily. That was the hardest part of this quest.

That and he was also slightly curious of the giant inhabitants of the house.

He still had yet to see one fully, but when he hid behind a vase of flowers or under a book that was tossed on a table nearby, he’d see glimpses.

Glimpses to the creatures that both awed and frightened him terribly.

They seemed ten times the size of him and incredibly vast.

They were really smart too.

Gavin heard them talking over things that he couldn’t even fathom. One time he heard the one called Jack talking about making a cake with ingredients that seemed so foreign and exotic! What the fuck was vanilla extract anyway? Gavin hoped extracting it from vanilla wouldn’t hurt the poor creature itself.

He had concluded that there were three giants living in the castle. There was Jack, the one he was talking to on the first day, Ryan and the last one who was Geoff.  
From little he saw of them, he had concluded that they all seemed to be in a relationship with each other and were happily content living away from everybody in the clouds. Gavin smiled at that, they seemed to remind him of home, though they seemed to be entirely different from him and the lads.

Jack was always running around, making sure the place looked clean. He had something of a green finger about him as Gavin had seen him in the room with the flowers or even outside from the view of the windows. He seemed nice, considering he was a freak of nature and seemed to genuinely care about the other two.

The next one, Ryan was definitely more of a listener than a talker. Gavin remembered the unfortunate incident where he had to hide behind a plate in the kitchen because this guy would just sit there for hours and drink tea while reading a book. Whenever one of the others addressed him, the conversation wouldn’t last long and he would be back to silence within minutes. Whenever he did talk though, Gavin hardly understood a bloody word he was saying though. He would talk about research and science and all this shit that flew right over Gavin’s head.

Finally there was Geoff.

Wow, where to even begin with this guy.

Gavin peeked from out of the bushel of flowers to take a quick peek and saw this guy had been burnt or something heavily because he had black designs all over his arms. Gavin felt a little sorry for him, as burning was all too familiar with him but the intricate detail of some of these patterns begged the question of whether or not he did it on purpose.  
And you know what, if anyone would do it, it was this guy.

Geoff was one of the loudest, fidgety and downright childish men he had ever come across in his entire life. The man could go on one hell of a strop on being bored until he lay himself flat on Jack, demanding entertainment. He would sit up suddenly, causing Gavin to nearly keel over in fright, and announce he was going to play one hell of a trick on Jack. Gavin would have forgotten all about it until around two days later he’d hear the belly-aching laugh that resonated through the halls and bounced off the walls followed by shouting from Jack.

Like why?

Who does that?

He was a great cook though. Whenever Gavin would sneak back to home-base in the kitchen, there was a high percent chance he was in there, cooking up something delicious for them all to eat. Gain could only watch, mouth-watering, as he would flip burgers, skewer meat and ice cakes with well-practised ease. Gavin could only hope that there would be leftover crumbs for him to collect and gorge after they were all finished eating. Unless Jack had cleaned the dishes first.

He managed to get through the week though without dying which was a substantial success in his book. He had stored up enough food in the cabinet to keep him going, eating it quick enough so it wouldn’t start to smell (though he was still worried about the piss-stained tea cosy he slept in) and he hadn’t been discovered and eaten or tortured.  
There was still the matter of finding the perfect thing to get home to fix everything.

Luckily when Gavin was getting desperate about just tearing off some of their bedsheet and praying it was valuable cloth they used, an opportunity appeared before him.  
He was having another look around the bedroom when heard the familiar incoming clomping of the footsteps and quickly darted behind a picture frame of pressed flowers when he heard two giants enter the room. It seemed to be Jack and Geoff. By loud they were Jack was still a trifle upset at Geoff’s funny business.

Geoff followed him into the room still wheezing with laughter.

“Come on Jack, you have to admit it was pretty fucking funny!”

“Not if it was happening to you! I’m the asshole who’ll be having nightmares for weeks!”

Geoff just continued cackling away while Jack fumbled around the room. Gavin got on his knees and crept to the edge of the frame, peeking out as little as he could. Geoff had walked over to Jack who has sitting on the bed, clutching his chest and shaking his head. Gavin watched as Geoff, gently rubbed Jack’s back with bemusement. Jack just wheezed but seemed to calm down at Geoff’s touch. They stayed like that for a while, Geoff soothing down Jack as he took deep breaths. Gavin wanted to wring his hands in the air. Bollocking bitch! He was just about to leave! There was nothing in the open here for him to take and he was just wasting time! He’d spent far too long up here and he needed to get something right now!

Geoff rather than getting up and leaving the room, leaned in and kissed Jack on the cheek.

“Let me make it up to you babe…”

Gavin grinned. Oh finally Geoff was going to bake them cake or some shit like that!

Geoff slipped his hand under Jack’s shirt and continued to rub his back. Jack sighed and leaned in to Geoff who began to kiss him on the forehead before tilting Jack’s head up and planting a deep kiss on his lips. Jack began to whine softly as Geoff ran his hand down over his chest and onto his belt; clicking it open and pulling it off slowly.  
Gavin swung away from the unfolding scene before him, blushing beetroot with his fist in his mouth; unsure if he was holding back a laugh or a scream. Granted he knew they were in a relationship with each other and sex was clearly going to be a part of the package but he didn’t think he’d be in the same room as it. Caught in the midst and fucking stuck there!

He heard the bed shift suddenly and rustling around until the room was filled with the steady stream of low panting and a slurping noise. Gavin was at the point of just announcing he was there just to end it but rather out of curiosity’s sake, peeked out again just to confirm what he already well and truly knew was happening. Jack was cradling Geoff’s head as it was nestled in the crook of his legs and gently mouthing the tip of Jack’s cock. Gavin watched helplessly, his entire body locked in place as Geoff inched his way down the shaft until his nose was brushing against the thick tufts of hair at the base. Jack inhaled deeply and leaned back in satisfaction while Geoff began to bob up and down slowly.

Gavin tore his eyes are from the scene to look at anything else. The intricate designs carved into the mantelpiece, the curtain ties that were keeping them from falling, the door slightly ajar…

The door was slightly ajar!

Geoff was well and truly distracted as far as Gavin could see but he was worried about Jack seeing him, him sitting up and all.

That problem seemed to sort itself out though when Geoff pulled away from Jack and took off the shirt he was wearing. He climbed on the bed and pushed Jack down, leaning in for another kiss, rougher and more desperate than before. Jack ran his palms down Geoff’s back, shoving them down his pants. Geoff panted into Jack’s mouth and clawed at the buttons of his trousers, all but ripping them off. Gavin couldn’t even afford to look away, lest he miss his chance to run. Forced to endure the scene unfolding before him. Finally stripped of each other’s clothes, Geoff parted Jack’s legs, who was reaching over for a small bottle. Geoff pulled the rings off his fingers and chucked them over to the other side of the room before inserting two slick digits into Jack. Gavin watched them bounce away in the direction of the door, gemstones glinting in the sunshine.

Holy fuck.

This was it.

He was never going to get as good a chance as this.

Gavin sprinted across the table and began to rapidly scale the handles of the drawers until he reached the bottom.

Speaking of, Jack gasped for air as Geoff began to push his way into his hole. Gavin stilled, his heart beating fast but Jack was immediately pushed down for another searing kiss. Gavin raced through the room, eyeing up every ring that had been thrown off. He quickly settled on one that had a large ruby embedded in the centre. Simple for them but priceless for him. Quickly looking over in their direction one more time before picking it up, it was clear these guys weren’t going to look away from each other for a while.  
He fled from the room, barely looking up and down to check that Ryan wasn’t roaming about and sped down the hallway.

Wheezing he counted the doors he had to pass.

One 

Two

Three

Make a left

Second hall on the right

Two doors

Make a right

Three doors

Finally he was back at the original tied string on the first door. He slipped through in to the room, thanking the Gods that Ryan was nowhere to be found. He took the tattered shirt off his back, climbed into the ring and just to be safe, tied the ring around his waist. He shot up the curtains and launched himself out the window. Not even stopping once, he ran.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him over the cobblestone until he finally reached the edge of the beanstalk. Taking a quick breather, he took one final look at the castle, feeling almost sad to leave it behind and began to make his trek downwards.  
***

Caleb walked back with Michael for a bit, no exactly trying to dissuade him from his decision but rather emphasise what the job upgrade would entail.

“You’re going to have to leave Michael. You won’t be able to come back. I was lucky to be stationed in one place but I had to travel all the way across the land before Joel was happy with me here. He doesn’t like anyone in deep in their original spot”.

Michael tried to listen but the whole thing just made him queasier. He knew exactly what the job would involve and he wasn’t happy about any of it. Carted around to this place and that, running up orders and serving justice to those who couldn’t pay. Transporting illegal goods from here to there and while he wasn’t opposed at all to the idea, he would get in a lot of trouble if he was caught. King Hullum forbade the smuggling trade as he couldn’t keep track of which section of Achievement City needed more resources. He was great to notify but difficult to count on as trying to make things happen officially took too damn long for anything to be done. It sucked that some of the money was lost in the process in the smuggling but if it got medicine from one place to the other faster than Michael didn’t have a problem.

That and it paid.

“What are you going to do about Ray and Gavin?”

Michael paused.

Ever since they were kids, he hadn’t been apart from them. Sure there were Gavin’s mistakes or where the errands took longer than normal but they always came back to each other. This was going to hurt like a fucking bitch when he finally leaves but Caleb was able to send money back to his parents so why couldn’t he do the same? Who knows? Gavin might have even come back and Ray wouldn’t be by himself.

“Gavin’s gone.”

After all who the fuck was he kidding anymore?

“Ray… Ray’s going to be fine. He’s the strongest of us all.”

Caleb looked at him intently.

“I’m not going to recruit you.”

Michael was about to argue some more before Caleb cut him off.

“-yet! You’re not going to be the asshole who leaves without giving others a choice in the matter. You’re going to go home and you’re going to talk to Ray about this. If you’re still sure after that… you’ll now here I’ll be.”

With that, Caleb turned around and disappeared in through the trees and Michael was left in front of the shack.

Here we go.

He pushed the door open and walked in.

Ray was counting the leftover coins they had in the bag with his eyes up in the ceiling as he tried to add up how bad it was. Michael wasn’t great at sums but he knew the money wouldn’t last long with Gavin gone. He crouched beside Ray, who seem to sense more bad news coming, filled the bag with the coins and dropped down to Michael’s level.

“I’m leaving.”

Ray blinked

“Then I’m coming to.”

Understandable but he didn’t get the gist.

“Ray… I’ve been smuggling.”

Ray nodded, once again keeping his emotions in check.

“Risky but you were always lucky with the law.”

Michael ran his hand through his head and decided not to tease him along any longer.

“I’ve decided to go full-time. I’ll have to leave. I don’t know if I can come back but I can send you money.”

Ray was silent. He got up and walked over the pot that needed washing. He hauled it outside and began to scrub it in the basin. Michael followed.

“Do you understand Ray? This isn’t something I can walk away from after I sign up. This is a life thing and I can’t take you with me.”

Ray continued to scrub the pot but with added force. He refused to look up at Michael.

“Then don’t go. No one’s forcing you. We’ll find another way. We always do.”

Michael knew by the slight edge on his voice that Ray was beginning to lose it. He was someone who bottled in his emotions on his best days but could snap in a second. Michael tried to be brash about it. He was sick of treading lightly around Ray these days.

“There’s no other way Ray! You think I want to fucking leave? You think I’d rather leave than stay here? Fucking Christ no! But you think if I don’t leave we’re not going to end up on the streets? I’m not going to see you begging Ray. I promised myself a long time ago that that shit wouldn’t happen to you.”

Ray was going to scrub a hole in that fucking pot.

Michael sighed and broke out the big guns.

“Gavin’s not coming back Ray.

Ray snapped. He threw down the pot and faced Michael, nostrils flaring. 

“Michael for once in your life. Shut the fuck up.”

Michael, while taken aback, pressed forward, getting more frustrated.

“Ray I’m fucking leaving tomorrow and there’s not a god damn thing you can do about it. At least I have the decency to leave you with something unlike Gavin.”

Michael didn’t expect the blow to his face.

Ray leapt on top of him, pummelling him into the ground. Though more than surprised Michael, experienced in too many fights for one lifetime, easily gained the upper hand and over powered Ray, pushing him off. Ray jumped back down on him, hands clamping around his neck screaming furiously at him

“YOU ARE NOT LEAVING ME TOO!”

Michael wheezed as the air remained trapped in his lungs, he watched as the tears began to flow off Ray’s face. Ray’s grip loosened, he let go of Michael and fell to the ground moaning. Michael sucked in the air in grateful bursts, incapable of words and tugged at Ray’s shirt beside him. Ray on the other hand got up and began to walk in the direction of the forest. Michael’s head was beginning to drum with the familiar beat of an oncoming headache, yet he forced his body up and began to trail after him. Ray began to walk faster as Michael hobbled along as quickly as he could. As soon as Ray had reached the trees, he began to sprint. Still hacking and spluttering, Michael did his best to keep up.

“GAVIN!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!” screamed Ray as he darted through the trees in a panic. Birds flew into the air in fright as his screams rang into the air.

“Pl---please” begged Michael as he began to fall behind.

Ray continued to run, further and further until he was barely in Michael’s sight. His head was beginning to swim as the maw of the pain split open in his head like a ripe melon, but he couldn’t let Ray go. He couldn’t let… he couldn’t…

Michael fell to the ground, losing control of his legs and began to drag himself across the forest ground. Thankfully he heard Ray in the distance, still screaming for Gavin. He leaned back on an unusually smooth tree trunk and prayed for the agony to just stop. His eyes were beginning to play tricks on him. The leaves on the trees were merging into one green blur and if he looked right up the weird tree he was leaning on went right up into the clouds.

Michael’s eyes were beginning to close when he heard it.

*snap*

“Oh fuck noooOOOOREEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHH”

And Gavin landed right in front of him.

Hearing the yell, Ray had ran back to investigate and was compltetly lost for words at what he saw.

Gavin, lying in a heap and spitting blood out of his mouth, reached down to check if the ring was still there. It was. Everything was going to be ok.

He grinned, showing off his bloody teeth.

“How are ye lads?”

And promptly passed out cold.


	5. What the actual fuck is that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back  
> Back again  
> Trash is back  
> Tell a friend
> 
> Ok so after half a year of shitty jobs and graduation and shit like that I just needed a break from all the stuff that was happening. I'm happy to announce that Fee Fi Fo Fuck Yeah will be returning properly and ye'll be given all the premiere trash that I promised ye. I am the conductor and I'm taking ye all to hell with me  
> Enjoy the ride!

Ray stood there for around a minute panting heavily. Michael was out cold from another one of his headaches and Gavin had just fallen out of the sky after being missing for over a week.

Just your average fucking Tuesday then.

Ray looked at the giant beanstalk that Michael was propped against. The thing seemed like it stretched for miles, even reaching beyond the clouds. Why on earth was Gavin climbing it?

Ray decided that questions would have to wait for later and turned Gavin over to see the brunt of the damage the fall did to him. Wrapped around his waist was a thick golden band with a ruby the size of a puppy embedded in the centre. The air got caught in his lungs and Ray dropped Gavin as his stomach started to heave. He opened his mouth gagging and a thin sting of bile clung on to his lip, his empty stomach unable to produce anything to vomit. Running his trembling fingers over the jewel, even knocking on it for good measure, Ray had a gut feeling that it wasn’t fancy glass, this was the genuine article.

A priceless treasure.

And Gavin was using it to hold up his trousers.

It was absurd to the point of comical but there wasn’t any time for that. Ray shot a glance over his shoulder as a bird flew out of a tree. What if someone had seen? Real or not, more than a few people would kill for something like this. He had to get both of them home as fast as possible.

He slung Michael over his shoulder and dragged Gavin by the wrist along the ground in the direction of their house. Ray was probably the least bulky of the three of them as he was worn out in seconds. He huffed along, sweat beading on his forehead and grunting in exertion from the strain on his back and his arms. His belly moaned at the lack of food, but that was all a distant pain that he learned to dull long ago.

The important thing now was getting them all to safety.

After what seemed like hours of huffing and pulling, the familiar fuzz of their little hovel came in to sight. He sped up the process and was a little relieved when he felt Michael beginning to shift slightly on his shoulders. After getting them both inside the house, Ray checked to see if they were being watched. Not satisfied with a seemingly quiet woodland, he moved about blocking their windows and piling objects against the door. Michael had come to, his head still throbbing from the most recent attack and watched Ray silently before joining in. Ray appreciated that from his boys, sometimes the situation was acting with no questions asked. Those would always come later.

After the pair of them were satisfied that the hovel was fortified enough, they turned their attention to Gavin. His entire body was coated in mud from the journey home and he had his usual blissful look about him as he laid unconscious, but was it just them being weary or did he look better… like healthier… and fatter?

Like, his clothes were in fucking tatters at this point, it would have been a compliment to still call it a shirt but the belly that was jutting out from the lack of cloth was round and full, with his ribs barely visible. His skin had a gleam to it and the bags around his eyes were less apparent than usual.  
Then they looked to the elephant in the room.

The waistband.

Holy shit

Where the flying fuck did he even get that?

Gavin wasn’t the type to pilfer something that wasn’t his, especially not to this degree. Was it given to him? How could anyone part with something so valuable? Michael and Ray uneasily glanced at each other, trying to gauge each others reaction to this mess. All they found in the others eyes were total and utter bewilderment. Luckily Gavin was starting to shift around and moan. Questions were about to get fucking answered.

Gavin opened his eyes and immediately winced in pain. Ray and Michael immediately shot down beside him in gut instinct and began to rub his arms in comfort. Gavin flinched with them so close, afraid one of them would strike, but it seemed to them now was not the time or the place.

“Michael, can you bring over those rags and some water please?” asked Ray, while laying a gentle hand on Gavin’s forehead. Michael silently went about his task while Gavin whimpered from the pain and the fear of being kicked out again. He seemed to be in no immediate danger though. As Ray lay damp rags on Gavin’s burning forehead, Michael reached under Gavin and propped him up slightly to inch the golden belt off of him. The thing was able to fit around his entire waist but was too impractical for its intended purpose. Far too spherical for a human body, no matter how fat they were.

Finally Michael could wait no longer, he watched as Gavin was about to drift back off to sleep and his curiosity got the best of him.

“Ok seriously, where and how the fuck did you get this?”

Ray shot him a look to which Michael snapped at him

“Like you don’t want to fucking know? Look at this Ray! This belongs somewhere in the King’s treasury. I don’t think anyone in Achievement City has ever held as much gold in their hand as I’m doing now!”

He glanced down at Gavin who was chewing his lip nervously.

“What the fucking shit have you gotten us all into Gavin?”

Gavin didn’t even know where to begin. Would they even believe him? Sure what the hell, only one way to find out.  
He managed to croak out “castle”.

Michael dropped the ring in utter shock, Ray’s face had undergone an almost mesmerising change of colour in under five seconds, ranging on white to green to utter puce.  
Gavin attempted to lift his head up but flinched and gave a little whine at the pain that shot through his head. Michael could sympathise with this one and knelt down beside him to comfort him through it.

“Deep breaths” he ordered while Ray continued to mop at his forehead.

Michael looked over at Ray.

“What the fuck are we going to do? If King Hullum finds out we stole something from him we’re-“

“Shhh!” Ray interrupted, “we’ll deal with it later. Gavin’s back and you’re not leaving. That’s all that matters right now.”

Michael frowned at that. Gavin was back, so what did that mean for him and the smuggling career. Granted he still had to properly sign up so he could get out of that without a problem and just continue with the odd jobs but the more he thought about it, the more it was might be a solution to this whole mess. However, this might be too big a job even for them.

“Gavin, how in the shit did you manage to pull this off. This is the heist of the fucking century kind of treasure and in this shitstorm of an economy there’s no way this stuff would be left without a thousand guards. What the fuck did you do?”

Ray got up to check the slit through the door to see if anyone was spying on them.

No.

Still, can’t be too careful.

Gavin just lay there confused.

What the bloody hell were they bringing King Hullum in to this? Gavin just wanted the pain to go away and to get a nice cuddle from the lads. Why couldn’t they all leave the yelling until later? His head was all muddled and their shouting wasn’t helping in the slightest. He tried to think about it as best as he could and when he heard Ray and Michael furiously conversing back and forth about how Gavin could have stolen the belt, he spoke up and announced.

“Ring”

Ray and Michael swivelled round to Gavin again and tried to make sense to what he just said. Michael’s mind went berserk, attempting to piece it all together with any theory that came to his head. Ring? What does that even mean? Ring what? Ring who? Did Gavin ring some kind of bell which caused the guards to run the other way? Was it an enchanted bell that put them all to sleep? Where would he even find that? He’d have to steal a bell that powerful from a witch and somehow Gavin stealing from a witch was way less likely than stealing from the king.

Ray looked over at Michael “what did he mean by that?”

Michael just shrugged “I’ve been going over bell theories in my head but trust me, they make no fucking sense. “You?”

Ray shrugged and sighed “like I’m thinking casting a ring of magic but that’s nothing to do with stealing gold so I’m completely lost.”

Michael rubbed Gavin’s head as he let out another small whine. “Maybe he’s delusional?”

Ray who had been looking over the belt again froze completely.

“Or maybe…” and he held it up, properly taking note of the smooth roundness to it “he meant this”.

Gavin sighed. Finally now there were making sense. “Idiots” he thought fondly. “Always the first one to call me thick and they’re the very ones who can’t piece the simple things together like he could!”

Michael was just about to ask Ray what the fuck he was on about when Gavin whispered it.

“Giants”  
***

Michael’s head whipped round at the sound of a leaf crunching but lowered his guard when Ray came into view. They had been sitting from the opposite ends of the house, armed with a small knife and a bow apiece. They squinted in the dark for any intruder that had seen Gavin and looking to claim a quick and bloody prize. Luckily the night seemed quiet so far. Still didn’t make them any calmer though.

Ray stood beside Michael and looked out at the dark smudge of the beanstalk that stood in the distance.

“It has to have something to do with that” he muttered.

“I don’t understand how gold and a giant beanstalk would go together though.”

Ray could only agree. He surveyed the surrounding area but was greeted by nothing but the empty woods and the cool night breeze that whispered softly through the leaves. Michael waited for him to elaborate but knew it would never come. Ray wasn’t the type to confront these issues when they needed to be dealt with. He nearly forced Michael out of the house when Gavin fell back asleep, a large purple bruise beginning to blossom visibly on his forehead. Michael was all for shaking him awake and demand what he meant. You can’t pass out as you’re getting to the good bits! But Ray wants what he wants and Michael agreed to keep watch through the night.

“What do you think Gavin actually meant though? I mean, it makes sense, the shape of the gold and the position of the jewel but… how could that be?”

Ray shrugged and continued to watch over the woods, Michael nudged his shoulder attempting to break in to a conversion.

“I’m serious Ray! You can act like you don’t want to talk about this, but I know you’re dying to know! Let me just go back inside and I’ll see if I can-“

“No! Let him rest Michael, he’s been through enough!” Ray who had glared at Michael resumed his position as the watchman of the forest. Michael huffed.

“Well can we at least talk about the smuggling thing then?”

Ray didn’t even give him the courtesy of looking over.

“What about it? Gavin’s back, he goes back to work, everything goes back to normal.”

Why did Michael always have to be the one to fucking make things happen?

“It’ll never be like it used to be Ray, you know that. I was thinking, I won’t go with Caleb tomorrow-“

“Good”

“But! But I will tell him about the belt, or ring, or whatever.”

Ray finally decided to engage in the conversation.

“Is that a good idea? To engage with them? Can you trust them?”

Michael smirked sardonically and stretched out his arms.

“I’m one of them aren’t I? Can you trust me?”

Ray smiled at that.

“Do you want the nice answer or the real answer?”

Michael sniggered at that and reached out for Ray’s hip. Ray allowed himself to be dragged closer into a hug and sighed into Michael’s neck. It had only occurred to him now with all the hassle that all the intimacy of them had been missing. It was amazing how a missing link in their little chain could break the whole thing. Michael pressed a kiss into the soft beat of Ray’s pulse and he shivered at the light touch. He nosed Michael’s soft skin and prayed for it all to work out in some spectacular way in which they would never have to worry about it again. They held each other for a while until Michael whispered in his ear

“I can trust Caleb, he’s one of us at least. I’ll get a quota and see if it’s possible. You can come if you want. First sign of trouble, he’s out and so are we.”

Ray looked over in the direction of the little shack that they had built from the ground with their own hands.

“I don’t want to leave.”

Michael rubbed Ray’s back soothingly and looked him deep in the eye.

“I promise if we have to go, I will do fucking anything in my power to see you get everything back. I’ll build a new house for us all myself. Remember what I swore all those years ago when it was just me and you, even before Gavin?”

Ray smiled

“I would never beg again.”

“Exactly” assured Michael his eyes fierce and blazing so bright “and it’s the same with Gavin. Neither of ye will ever beg or go hungry on my watch. Anything it takes, both of ye will come first.”

Ray drank those eyes in hungrily, it seemed like when Michael got like this everything he said would come true. He was going on now about how Ray would have a bigger garden and Gavin would be able to have as much jam as he wanted no matter the season of the year. Despite their past accomplishments (or lack of) perhaps it might be different after all.

They heard the door of their hovel creak open and Gavin stumbled out, pausing at the obvious moment they were having. Michael beckoned him over unwrapping one arm from Ray and offering it to Gavin. A very noticeable sigh of relief washed over Gavin as he nearly sprinted into the hug. He snuggled deeply into the embrace and rubbed his face into what bit of them he could manage. They only smiled and kissed him back. Michael’s mind was still burning about the ring though. He looked on over to the house where he could see the mound where they had wrapped it in cloth and had buried it in the ground for extra protection and assurance from Ray. He would dig it out again for Caleb tomorrow and then the rest would be left up to fate to decide what to be done with them. All that was left was to find out what Gavin meant. He turned to Gavin and opened his mouth when Ray shot him a desperate look. Ray wanted this moment to be held like this for the night. He adored these moments, when there was no fighting, nothing to worry about and nothing to fear and while such a day like that hasn’t happened in years, there were some days where it was nice to pretend. Michael, with his mouth hanging open and Gavin tensing in the moonlight waiting for whatever to come to come.

“You alright?”

Ray sighed with relief and nuzzled back into the embrace. Gavin beamed and leaned into Michael for a quick peck on the lips.

“Never better!”  
And with that, he settled back in while Michael gave in to the warmth of his boys for the night. Obviously it wasn’t over. They all knew in their hearts that they were on the cusp of an extraordinary change to their lives. Whether it was good or bad had still yet to be decided by the hands of fate. Still though, the night was young and the stars were beautiful, and of course they were back together again.  
So at least for this one night, they could pretend that it, whatever it was going to be, was going to be ok.


	6. Are you fucking kidding me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the wait again  
> spent the last while setting up an application for a postgrad and doing exams  
> all finished though :)  
> enjoy your trash you heathens

Gavin reached out to snuggle his boys but found the makeshift bed bare beside him. He sighed and glanced down at his cock, which was still somewhat hard after the dreams he had last night. It had been so long since they all had a good fuck and Gavin was hoping to end the unfortunate dry spell last night but to no avail.

I guess me being gone really affected them he thought gloomily. He had been gone before but never for this long without warning. Did he really fuck up his boys that much? Was it finally over, have they all reached their breaking point? Was this the end?

Gavin shook his head.

No.

If anything last night proved that things hadn’t changed at all. They still all had their wounds, but with time and patience, things would go back to the way they were. And that filled him with hope.

Gavin lay back down on the matted straw and pawed idly at his dick. He closed his eyes and imagined his hand as Ray or Michael’s sweet mouth lightly sucking the head and then gently swallowing the shaft. His breath hitched slightly as the scene played out in his head.

Ray always got invested in it as he would close his eyes, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he would sink down and roll his tongue on the throbbing veins. The way he gave head, Gavin was almost sure Ray would forget about everyone else but himself as he would lose himself in the moment. Michael on the other hand was all about the performance. Cheeky bugger would waggle his eyebrows and give a saucy wink as he give lick long stripes up the shaft and sucking the beads of pre-cum off the head, all while whispers would escape his mouth. “Taste so good Gavvy.” Michael would utter as he used his other hand to cradle his scarred sac before leaning down and begin lazily licking them to for good measure.

Gavin loved both methods from his boys and wished he had the capacity (and the jizz) to go back and forth between them for hours. Gavin stroked his cock faster and bit his lip. He rolled over on to his side and sluggishly humped where his boys should have been. He thought about them together now both mouthing at his dick and their lips touching from opposite sides, groaning at the impromptu kiss. Gavin was now whispering their names in to the bed, begging for their imaginary relief. They hurried as best as they could, tongues sliding over each other, licking the spunk that was now dribbling from the sides, spilling on to his pelvis. Michael fluttered his eyes at Gavin as he sank down fully on to the shaft with ease as Ray began to move down, tongue sliding down to his taint. His balls were tightening, it wouldn’t take much now.

Gavin whined and suddenly found Geoff in between Jack’s thighs just behind his boys. They were on that enormous bed and Gavin was lying on that plush carpet, the thick hairs pillowing his heaving body. Jack was moaning softly as Geoff matched the rhythm his boys were making. Jack took notice of them and looked down smiling. He ran his hand gently though Geoff’s hair and cocked his head in their direction. Geoff turned around, and a blush deepened on Gavin’s face as they simply watched Ray and Michael at work. Geoff smiled lazily and looked directly in to Gavin’s eyes, “c’mon babe, don’t let them do all the work!” The heat pooled suddenly and Gavin gasped as he came in to his clenched fist. 

The proud smiles on all their faces lingered as he opened his eyes.

And just as soon as he looked down at his hand, the sooner the feeling nigh evaporated.

Why the bloody hell was Geoff in that fantasy?

And why the hell was he blowing Jack in it?

And why did was it THAT that made him cum in the end?

Gavin lay there silently panicking when Michael walked in. He paused and looked down at Gavin, a smirk crinkling his nose.

“Having fun there boi?” he asked, standing over him and snickering at the sight of a very ruffled Gavin.

“You know it boi!” Gavin answered, red flowering on his face, embarrassed and almost ashamed for something he didn’t even understand.  
Michael crouched down until he was eye level with Gavin. He inspected Gavin’s hand closely.

“What were you thinking about?” Michael was running his thumb up and down Gavin’s wrist.

Gavin’s heart sank.

There’s no way.

There’s no bleeding way he knew about what he was thinking about. Gavin had to remind himself that this was just teasing and Michael knew nothing about the personal lives of the three giants who secretly lived up in the clouds. Still though, it makes you wonder.

Gavin swallowed thickly and replied “just thinking about how much I missed ye.”

Michael thought about that and leaned forward. Gavin’s breath caught in his throat as Michael ran his tongue up the side of Gavin’s palm, catching the entire load and knocking it back. He let it linger in his mouth with his eyes closed for a moment before swallowing it whole. He licked his lips and grinned.  
“Maybe if you stick around this time, Ray and I will be able to return the favour…”

Gavin gave a shaky laugh “cheers boi!”

Michael leaned in for a quick peck on the lips. There was a hint of saltiness as he pulled away.

“It’s time we met with Caleb, you should come.”

“Already have” giggled Gavin, warmth returning to his belly as Michael shook his head and began to dig out their prize from under the soil. Ray had entered the hovel and raised an eyebrow at the state of Gavin but said nothing of it, though he did appear a little flushed.

Gavin moved to put on his shirt, or at least what was left of it. He was still in shock. It was clearly a traumatising experience what he had gone through. I mean, it’s not every day you came across giant fellatio. He had lived in terror with them but was also completely fascinated by their strange ways that it was completely natural for him to experience this. He always had a thing for being protected and dominated and well, with beings who could literally dominate Gavin in every sense of the word, it made sense. Gavin shook a spider out of his pants. Sure, after that ring is sold for money today and they move to a much nicer house, Geoff, Jack and even Ryan will be completely forgotten about.

He gave it a week.

***

Gavin opened the door to find Ray and Michael checking the ring in sunlight. They nodded to each other and wrapped the cloth around it again. They placed it in the centre of them and looked up at Gavin. Before Michael could even open his mouth, Ray thrust Gavin’s breakfast into his hands. Michael huffed. It seems like Ray was going to try and keep the peace for as long as he could but that shit wasn’t going to fly with him this morning. As Gavin lapped up the thin but thankfully hot broth Michael put a hand on Ray’s knee. He earned himself a wistful glance from Ray but was instantly shot down by the tightening of Michael’s grip on his knee.

They had waited long enough and it was dangerous not knowing the circumstances behind the treasure.

It was time.

Gavin swallowed the rest of the broth to see Ray’s hand join with Michael’s and seeing him nod slightly in defeat. Michael brought his hand up to his mouth and kissed it lightly and then gave Gavin a hard stare.

Uh oh.

“So Gav, you’re going to start from the very beginning as to how you got this… treasure and where you have been for the last while.”

Gavin’s fingers twitched around the bowl. He tried to keep a handle on his breathing but his heart thumped hard in his chest. God why was this so scary? He was reminded of the last time he tried to tell them. Not a pretty memory. His eyes flicked up, there wasn’t any fury this time, just frustration and maybe a little… fear? 

“Like I said before, magic man in the forest bargained Edger for some magic beans.”

Michael and Ray looked a little taken aback. I guess it was a little of a stretch that the supposed ludicrous “con” would have any place in this.

Michael shook his head. “Hang on a sec here Gav, are you telling me that the guy who gave you the magical bean shit was legit?”

Gavin nodded and smiled. “Guess I’m not always wrong about everything huh?”

They at least had the decency to look a little sheepish at that. Ray surprisingly was the one to urge Gavin to keep going. I guess you just add magic to a story and even the most reluctant is interested in hearing the ending. Gavin continued with the strange appearance of the man and how otherworldly he seemed before deciding whether or not to give Edger over. He quickly hurried over the whole “thrown out of the house” part as no one wanted to dwell on that. Finally when he reached the part about the beanstalk, they leaned in closer. He hadn’t realised that his voice was becoming more hushed for this part.

“I guess I thought there would be giant fruit at the top to sell or something so I… climbed up”.

Michael broke in angrily. “That still doesn’t explain the treasure or why you were gone for that long! Did you decide to not come back asshole?”

Ray nearly fucking throttled Michael but Gavin was quicker to respond.

“For your information, I stayed up there for that long cause I was waiting for the giants that lived up in their bloody castle to show me where their gold was you mong!”

Silence

Ray was frozen with him arms stretched out in the direction of Michael’s neck, eyes bugging out of their sockets while Michael was staring at Gavin, mouth opening and closing.  
Gavin knelt down and opened the cloth. He held up a finger and put it in the middle of the gold band. “See how the jewel sits in the middle? Like those pictures we saw when we were younger, and we talked about buying each other those fancy rings for each other if we ever got rich? This is one of them! One of the giants was wearing it and I was able to get it when he was in the middle of… when it fell off his hand! I was waiting for days for something like that to happen. I stole their crumbs to eat during the day and hid in their cupboards at night. I missed ye so much and I wish I was able to tell ye I was alright but I couldn’t come back without the treasure I promised, I just couldn’t!” Ray looked down at the ring properly. He gingerly put his own finger through it, as if looking at it properly for the first time. Michael stared straight up at the clouds.

“Gav how could the beanstalk lead to giants… that makes no goddamn sense. Giants living in the clouds was a stupid fairy tale that they told us to get the fuck to sleep. It’s not real. This isn’t real.”

He was also seeing the ring for what it truly was now.

“How can this be real?”

Gavin shrugged.

“There’s always truth to the stories growing up, I mean look at me.”

Ray had come to his senses the fastest as was looking around quickly to make sure no one was watching before hurriedly wrapping the cloth once more over the ring. Michael snapped out of it too and stood up. He faced where the beanstalk was standing, swaying slightly in the wind.

“Gav” he murmured, “they’re not going to come looking for it will they?”

Gavin’s stomach plummeted and he could taste the bile rising at the thought. The very idea that the giants finding his boys with their ring was sending a cold sweat down his back and churning the broth in his stomach. He nearly gagged save for the sight of Ray clutching the ring in terror, looking for the answer in Gavin’s face. Gavin didn’t know what was going to happen but he figured that there was no need for extra worry. They had enough shit to deal with. Besides if those giants came down, he’d make absolute sure that it would be him that would face the consequences, rather than them.

“No!” he blurted out quickly, “the giant whom that ring belonged to had like a fuckton of rings on his hand. He’s not going to be missing them.”

Not exactly the truth, but not really a lie either. Michael sat back down, apparently at ease after that. Ray, on the other hand, was not too convinced.

“Maybe it would be better if it was just returned? Just to be safe?”

It was Gavin this time who rounded on him.

“You’re having a laugh if you think I’m hauling that all the way up the beanstalk to try and sneak it back in to the castle and run back down to our shitty life!” Gavin all but yanked the ring out of Ray’s grasp. “This is our one fucking chance of turning everything around and I for one am not going to give that chance back.”  
Michael took Ray’s hand “I can’t believe I’m saying this but Gavin’s right. This ring will change our lives and the risk is worth it. Even if they suspect that the first human has found them, we’ll be long gone by the time they climb down to look for it. The ring will be in melted down into bank and we’ll be chugging mulled wine on our own private island. They’ll never suspect a thing.”

Ray swallowed his retort and realised his battle was already lost. He still needed to have the last say though.

“No one goes anywhere near the beanstalk. We don’t touch it, we don’t talk about it, and we don’t even look at it if we can help it. These giants don’t exist and there’s no magic man giving out magic beans. We’re not going to tamper in this witchcraft any more than has already happened. We’re selling this ring and then we are never going to talk about how we go it again. Is that understood?”

Michael nodded and smiled, thinking this was the best strategy. Gavin on the other hand felt a little cold inside. Really? They were never going to ask about what he had learnt from the giants? Nothing on their food or their castle? A castle in the fucking sky? He was just supposed to pretend that they didn’t exist? Ryan, Jack and… Geoff?  
He thought back to his earlier dream.  
Actually maybe not acknowledging them ever again was probably the safer thing to do.  
“Deal!”

***

They left the cloth wrapped around the ring as it way too dangerous to have it out in the open, and set off at a good pace. Michael led the way but was warily looking around for anyone who was potentially watching them through the trees, a small hunting knife in his hand. Ray was in the middle, arms clutching the ring like he was holding on for dear life. Any light rustle of movement and his head would snap in its direction. There was a fine line of sweat that was beading itself on his forehead and down his back. Gavin wondered behind as he always did. He felt at one with the woods and never felt uncomfortable in them like Ray or saw it as purely a hunting ground like Michael. He was a kindred spirit amongst the impossibly tall trees that nearly blocked out the sunlight and the earthy moss that squished pleasantly between his toes. He was never one to be wearing shoes and had developed thick, gnarled feet as a result. He’s had them for years which he figured came from a lifestyle among the creepers. If that is what actually happened that is. His mind would always wander in the woods like this. This was a place that time would stand still and he could just let his worries wash away. Unfortunately Ray’s head whipped around in a panic to Gavin stepping on a particular crunchy leaf and glared at him. Gavin decided to leave the vacant daydreaming to a more suitable time.

Michael held up his hand, indicating them all to stop. He cupped his hands and blew gently in his the opening in between his thumbs to create a light bird song. He did this twice and then walked forward on to a tree and scratched a large “X” on to its lower trunk. Finally he picked up a handful of leaves and shredded them to pieces before putting them neatly in to a pile under the mark on the tree. He then beckoned the lads to follow him back.

Ray jogged alongside him. “What are you doing? We’re supposed to be meeting up with your contact!”

Michael hushed him and urged him to sit down. “He probably heard more than one set of footsteps and hid. I just informed him that there’s new information and more than one person showing up. We should be fine but he might be bringing along another guy in case he feels threatened.”

This didn’t calm Ray down by a long shot and he began to furiously wrap the cloth around the ring even tighter, if that was even possible. Gavin leaned in closer to him and slinked an arm around his shoulders. That seemed to calm him down and he dug his head into Gavin’s neck and kissed his collarbone lightly. Michael smiled at the exchange but soon heard what could have passed as an owl hooting but he knew better.

He got back up and rapped the side of a nearby tree loudly with the knife. They all heard two sets of footsteps. Caleb came out, looking more nervous than usual, and nearly keeled over when he saw the sight of Gavin and Ray. With him was another man, slightly smaller with a severe squint that similar to Ray and Michael with cropped hair and an almost boyish face. Michael hadn’t met him before but something about how young they all were to be in this kind of situation made him uneasy. This was a dark time that drove people to do dark things. Luckily this ring was their ticket out of it before things got too drastic.

“What the hell is the meaning of this Michael?” demanded Caleb will his friend looked on. “I have to bring in my right hand man, just to make sure I’m not about to get double crossed out of desperation when I woke up today thinking this was going to be just a yes or no question. And now you bring two others along? This shit doesn’t happen this way! There are rules! I’m this fucking close to ending our pact right here and now, and you’d be fucking lucky. There are others in this business that would kill you for pushing my nerve to fucking far.”

Gavin gasped at already somehow screwing it up again and was on the verge of just fucking breaking down and losing it. Ray looked like he wasn’t too far behind.  
“Calm the fuck down and hear me out Caleb!” snarled Michael. He gestured at Ray to hand him the wrapped ring. Ray hesitated, looking into Michael’s eyes for reassurance before he saw the same burning determination from the night before. He sighed and passed over the cloth. Gavin sat behind him, clutching on to his shirt and trying not to look directly into their eyes. Michael began to walk forward to the smugglers, prompting the new one to pull a sword out of his sheath. Michael paused and looked at Caleb. After a brief silent back and forth between them, Caleb muttered in the new man’s direction.

“First sign of trouble Kdin and you know what to do.”

A terse nod from Kdin’s direction and Michael continued forward. Just around a meter away, he stopped and smiled.

“Ready for your mind to be blown?”

Caleb and Kdin really didn’t know how to respond to that, but their interest was captured at least. Michael held the cloth in a shaft of sunlight and pulled down one of the folds to reveal the part where the gold band met with the colossal ruby.

The sword dropped out of Kdin’s hands.

Caleb knees knocked and he nearly keeled over then and there.

Michael smiled. “Gotcha” he thought.

Kdin was the first one to come to his senses, scrabbling down to pick up his sword and full on point it in Michael’s direction. He looked at Caleb, waiting for the order but Caleb had still yet to recover. He was breathing heavily, eyes glued to the shiny band of gold and precious jewel. He straightened up, but was still clearly shaking.  
“What the fuck are you playing at Michael?”

“I think it’s pretty clear from my offer on the tree and me presenting this now that I want a trade. I’m going to trade this for enough bank that my boys and I are going to leave this shithole and blow each other every night on a bed made from diamond covered goose feathers.”

Michael was smirking now. He knew he had their attention.

Caleb shook his head. 

“This isn’t real. This isn’t fucking happening.”

“The fuck do you need, a second opinion? Come closer and see for yourself if you don’t believe me!”

“Michael” came a warning murmur from Ray. Michael looked back and nodded, remembering himself slightly. “You bring your man forward and I’ll bring mine.”  
Caleb nodded tersely and gestured at Kdin to walk towards Michael with him. Ray gave Gavin a brief peck on the forehead before moving up to join Michael. Gavin did everything he could to keep himself from running up to them too. The situation was too precarious to lose oneself, he kept thinking to himself. One wrong move and we end up a sticky mess on the forest ground. He grabbed fistfuls of the roots underneath him and refrained himself from tearing after them. Ray and Kdin nodded towards each other. Kdin at least had the decency to lower his sword somewhat but still kept it gripped tightly in his hand. He reached out and touched the surface.

“May I?” he asked gesturing forward.

“Drop the sword and I get to keep one hand at all times on it.” 

“That’s fair.”

The sword was handed to Caleb and Kdin began to examine it thoroughly. He dug out a piece of hardened clay from his pocket and rubbed the gold up and down. He asked Michael to hold the ruby part in a shaft of sunlight while Kdin crouched down and checked underneath. He picked up a stone and after asking permission, whacked the side of the ruby, the sound ringing out through the forest and causing them all to cringe. Finally in a vain attempt to prove something to himself, he gave the gold a long lick and bit down hard onto it. He came back up slowly, a dreamy expression on his face and a strand of spit still connecting him to the ring. He wiped his face, turned to Caleb and burst out laughing. Ray and Michael shared a look while Caleb, concerned for his companion, took him by the shoulders in an attempt to interrupt him from his maniacal fit of laughing. Kdin grasped Caleb by his lapels.

“It’s real.” He wheezed, still giggling and not taking his eyes of treasure. “It’s fucking real gold. The jewel isn’t glass either. I can’t get a read on how pure the cut is or even begin to imagine how valuable this is, but that is completely and utterly real. Kdin let Caleb go and picked up the sword. He staggered away through the trees, not even bothering to answer Caleb’s calls. Caleb looked back toward the lads and back down at the gold band.

“I can’t give you an estimate now. Nor do I have the authority to,” he scratched the back of his neck, growing paler at how much this would trade for. “What I can tell you though is that it’ll take a while to get this done. We’ll need to get you to Joel immediately-“

“No fucking way!” snarled Ray lunging forwards. Gavin scrambled to his feet and rushed to Michael’s aid holding him back. “No one is fucking going anywhere! You’ll have to bring him to us!”

Caleb’s face darkened and leaned in closer to Ray. “Do you have any idea what that would mean asshole? Bringing Joel here? Joel is not someone to be fucking played with!”

“Not even for this?” asked Ray gesturing towards the ring. Michael smirked and leaned in closer to Ray. He loved when one of his boys was all hot and flustered for him. If this all ends well, he’d make sure to find a way for Ray to expend all that energy. Caleb reddened and looked at the treasure again.

“Joel won’t be coming, but...” he held up a hand before any of them could interrupt, “we will be bringing other people to check on the validity of the item for trade.”

“And how long will that take?” Gavin piped up for the first time in the whole conversation.

Caleb chewed his lip thoughtfully. “Who knows? Could take two or three months.”

Once again he had to silence their incessant outcries at the preposterous amount of time.

“Do you want this shit to be done? Cause in this business it’s either done right or not done at all!”

They silenced after that. Caleb turned around again and sighed.

“I better go after him. He’s not in a good state to explain how… delicate the situation is to the higher-ups.”  
He looked on over at the lads and smiled weakly, exhausted from the blow to his senses.

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you found what looks to be your way out Michael.”

He set off in the direction of his companion, but was still talking loud enough for them to hear.

“It’s a good thing that will keep a man from this life, though I can’t even begin to imagine how ye got it. Who knows? You could wake up tomorrow, dead in your beds, when whoever you clearly stole that from comes looking for it. Maybe after all this, you’ll wish your boy never came back.”

Gavin’s heart skipped a beat. He looked over at the lads, their good humour completely gone at this point.

“Look for a scratch on the tree” Caleb called out before disappearing into the woods.

They stood there for a minute, Gavin trembling and leaving little marks on his forearms from where his crossed arms were digging in hard. Michael covered up the treasure again and looked up at the clouds. There was peace in the sky and only birdsong in the air.

“Let’s go” he muttered and they all headed back to the hovel, checking behind their backs for eyes that could be watching.


	7. Great fucking idea this is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even going to pretend there was stuff happening, I was just flat out lazy this time.  
> Enjoy your filth!

“Ready to put on your makeup you pretty little thing?” asked the man while lying on the bed. Gavin grinned and winked while checking his reflection in the mirror. He was smearing the dark red lipstick on the chapped lips, he made sure not to look up, lest he see the smile not reaching his eyes. He turned around and found the man’s cock already sprung out of his pants and being casually stroked.

“I want it to be cherry red by the time your through with it!”

Gavin played the part well, simpering and blushing, before kneeling down and taking the man between his lips. He made sure the open mouth kisses to his dick were as sloppy as possible to rub the lipstick all over it. The man groaned and leaned back, a blissful expression on his face.

Gavin didn’t expect to come back here.

He figured that the ring would be traded and all of them would have shifted off to their lovely house, somewhere by the sea by now. He knew the trading might take a while, but my God not this long! It had been weeks since they had first met up with Caleb and ever since that one visit, they have met up with consultants, jewel experts, miners, dealers and all sorts of people that the smuggling business felt was necessary before making the final trade. With all these people looking at it, the three were shocked that rumours haven’t started circling the town. There were even rumours circling of Joel possibly making a visit to Achievement City. With all this stress, it was decided that nightly watches were absolutely essential to keep them safe. The amount of time the whole business was taking meant they had to return to their previous jobs. Lindsey was both relieved and disappointed in seeing the return of Gavin. While she was grateful for the fact he wasn’t lying dead in a ditch somewhere up north, she had a little hope that he had found the means to leave this kind of profession behind. Sadly this was not the case. He went to the back room and found a hen party waiting for him. Like nothing had changed at all.

Well nearly everything.

Ray and Michael had gone back to their daily routine of struggle but now there was an underlining tension to their day. Despite the promises that they had made to never bring up where Gavin had taken the ring to anyone even amongst themselves, the irrefutable knowledge of giants hung around them like a thick fog in the morning. Gavin had caught Ray repeatedly, putting down his tools during his daily attack on the weeds to just stare for minutes on end to the sky, mouth slightly agape and a twitch in his eyes. They would linger over the merging of the beanstalk into the clouds and just watch and wait for something, anything, to appear. Of course it never did, I mean nothing had ever happened during their entire lives, but he still waited for that day a hand would appear suddenly to grasp the great plant and destroy the last semblance of sanity he had. He never brought this new habit up with them, kept himself to himself about it and assumed they wouldn’t notice. It seemed he still underestimated Gavin, which admittedly cast Gavin down in to a gloomy mood.

Michael on the other hand seemed like he was always ready for a fight. While he convinced Ray that going to sleep with knife in his hand was purely for the safety of them and the ring, Gavin did notice that each step he took was full of vigour and vim. He seemed to have a new energy about him, throwing himself in to the daily tasks and constantly bounding with energy. While at first it seemed like a welcome change to the boring life of hunting and occasional exchange with Caleb, he seemed to be growing reckless. He was like a winded coil at home, snapping at anyone who annoyed him in the slightest and disappearing for hours just to do sprints or push ups on the outskirts of their land in an attempt to shave off the mindless energy. The new information that there was a real threat in this world that could destroy all life without any means of being able to stop it captivated Michael and sent him in to constant overdrive. He could barely sleep anymore and was the one mostly doing the night shifts. If he hadn’t something to do, he’d be pacing back and forth outside of the house or doing some sort of training deep within the forest. Every now and again, if Ray was absent from the house and Gavin was home early, Michael would still his rocking leg and lean in to Gavin, his eyes growing more manic by the day.

“Did they make weapons boi?”

Gavin looked up from turning the burlap sack he found on the streets that day into rudimentary socks in surprise.

“Sorry what?”

“Weapons Gav! Weapons! 

Gavin realised who he was referring to and felt relieved to finally enclose a little information about them.

“Not that I saw while I was up there, why?”

Michael retreated back in to himself and promptly left the shack. Gavin just caught snatches of “keeping secrets” and “world domination” before he disappeared completely into the woods again.

Gavin was in the complete middle during all of this. He desperately wanted to talk to his boys about the giants and the discoveries he had made up there and the food they made and the softness and the cosiness- oh! He did not want to admit that he did almost miss it up there.

Even a little.

He didn’t miss the giants!

No way!

Too scary and too much to deal with!

But he did miss going to sleep in a plush tea cosy with a giant piece of food beside him.

He did miss the extravagant lifestyle the giants lived comfortably in.

He missed the walks he would take at night around the castle when they were all sound asleep.

He missed the banter and the jokes and the smiles-

Gavin went back to the burlap socks, almost a tragic joke that lay in his lap.

It was perfectly reasonable. After all, though petrified out of his skin, one could argue he was living the high life- literally! He was always close to something to eat, he was never cold and every day was a new adventure.

Coming home after all that was much harder than he anticipated.

If he could go back, he mused to himself, just one more time… would he take it?  
***  
On his way back from work, an admittedly easy going day with a particular generous tipper, he noticed something peculiar. While his walk home would now include a little side-step around the massive beanstalk that had covered the path, he’d usually grin up at it and pat it on the side before moving along the road. Of course a plant with its size had garnered some attention. People braved the woods just to see it up close. Taverns late at night divulged the strangest tales of where it could have come from, while Gavin popping in see wish Steffie the barmaid goodnight, would grin at the most outlandish of theories. Tales of the end of the world befalling the land when the first blossom appears to even a divine blessing in the form of a plant that would give everlasting youth to those who would smoke it, made Gavin chortle on the way home. There was one instance when a bard plucked at his harp and sang an eerie song about the Old Gods returning. Beings that could pass as human aside from their monstrous size and unholy abilities. The bard warned the taverns folk of the Old Gods who were banished into the sky at long last finding their bridge to cross back into the mortal realm. Luckily the taverns folk laughed at the absurdity of such a story and cheered the bard to play the story of the unlikely hero Pubert Addams. Gavin left in a sombre mood.

Everyone knew the stories of the Old Gods, they were a part of their culture, from their old bedtime stories to the profanities they would hurl at each other. Gavin hadn’t considered the giants to be the Old Gods. Was it so strange for him to believe he had found them? Even after seeing them so domesticated?

He mused on this for a while before once again reaching the giant beanstalk. Its smooth hide struck him with an idea. If the travelling bard had already written a song about the beanstalk, that meant there was a good chance it would live on in these stories, long after it crumbled to the ground in mulch. Gavin was the reason behind the creation of the beanstalk, why not he get all the credit? Would it not be amusing to be involved in the passing tales? “Green-fingered Gavin” is what they would call him! Gavin quickly searched for a long jagged rock and settled for a particularly sharp and tough stick. He walked around the twin twisting roots, trying to find a spot that would garner the most attention and when he was happy with his choice, drove the stick into flesh of the beanstalk.

It went in very easily.

So easily that Gavin for a moment thought he was going to push down the entire thing. His heart left his mouth and nervously he took out the stick to inspect the damage. While the beanstalk, from the outside at least, had a thick, rugged skin that gave the appearance of being utterly impenetrable, it seemed the inside was soft and fleshy. Gavin stuck his finger in. Yes, this tree seemed to be a secret vagina on the inside. Gavin snorted at this thought, picked up his stick and continued. He was able to scrape out a decent “GAV WAS HERE”. He was going to do his whole name but though easy to penetrate unnecessary chunks would come out with it. His “A” was nearly inscrutable as he tore out a large hole in the tree. However, he was happy with his handiwork, though the “A” was bothering him a bit, he could fit his entire fist in to for God’s sake! He threw down the stick and turned in the direction of home.

And paused.

He slowly looked down at his hand and curled it. He mulled about what he just thought about and turned around. He slowly sunk his entire fist back in to the “A”. He picked the stick back up, walked to the back of the beanstalk, checked to see that no one saw what he was doing and dug a chunk out of the plant. It gave easily. He was able to get another fist-sized hole out of the tree in seconds. He pursed his lips and sat down, staring hard at the hole. He thought about climbing up the beanstalk again, but the long and perilous journey gave him the shivers. However, that was without steps. If he could carve a path of steps in to this thing, he could shorten the flight up and down from the entire day to an hour? Less? It would be easier for him as climbing was his forte. Gavin thought about it. He could start bringing home more food. Swatches of material for clothes and blankets. He could learn something from the giants that might help them through the winter. There wasn’t a downside at all to this!

Except getting caught.

Gavin didn’t know who would be more dangerous; caught by the giants or caught by Ray and Michael.

Gavin would never see the next sunrise for either party.

And yet… there was something that was calling him, something from past those clouds that yearned to be back in the castle.

He was loathed to admit but he missed it.

He missed it all.

And he will be god damned if he was going to pass up an opportunity like this.

He dug three more holes into the tree in ascending order, hid the stick and went on his way home.

The odd trip up and down the tree.

Hanging out in the castle for 2 hours max.

What could happen?  
***  
What had started out as a pet project that Gavin most definitely had no intention of actually going through with became something that became an integral part of the day. The makeshift ladder that would lead up to the giants would be the first thing on his mind at the crack of dawn and would linger in his subconscious while drifting off to sleep. He had not told Michael or Ray of course as their reaction would most likely leave Gavin sleeping in a tree that evening. It would cause unnecessary worry that would be the last thing they needed. Besides he was only doing it to pass the time until the money gets here, it wasn’t like he was actually going to use it.

Gavin would find comfort in the half an hour he would devote to these daily carving sessions. Alone high up in the air he would gently slice in to the green flesh and sculpt up a solid footing that would be dried through and firm by the next morning. He had surprised even himself by how quickly he was getting it done. Though climbing the beanstalk the first time had been a perilous journey, not to the landing could have been much softer, but with the new makeshift staircase, he was able to whizz up and down much faster and safer than before.

He used his new found leisure to watch the sun set. It truly was the best part of the day, even more incredible from such a height. Gavin wished he was raised by birds instead, maybe they could have taught him the secret of flight instead. Gavin would get lost in these fantasies of feathers and fresh air until it was time to return to the real world; the path feeling just that little bit harder on his feet every time.  
***  
By the time Gavin had reached beyond the clouds, they had been informed that Joel was coming to visit them. This ramped up the tension in the house to a whole new level. Michael found it impossible to stay still and could only find sleep through passing out from sheer exhaustion. Ray on the other hand, barely spoke anymore. He would tend to the garden and clean up the house but when his eyes met with either Michael or Gavin it was like he didn’t even recognise them anymore. This was driving Gavin to insanity, and even further up the beanstalk. Gavin felt like he could only breathe a hundred feet in the air and almost dreaded to come home. He couldn’t even remember the last time he kissed either of his boys on the lips or held either of their hands. He sorely missed the interaction and threw all his frustration in to the dizzying heights of the staircase.

One day he had arrived home to Michael on one of his frenzied sprints while Ray was planting new seedlings from the diminishing supply to feed them. He sat down next to him and was either ignored or Ray was in no particular mood for talking and kept on his work. Gavin had had a pretty decent day at work, little to no hassle and mostly customers wanting a quick in-and-out before leaving again. Where he was now in the staircase was deep in the clouds but offered a pretty breath taking view on the way down. Gavin was getting excited; he was nearing the top but what he was going to do once he did, he still wasn’t sure. He had spent the last 15 minutes staring into a glorious sunset and was in a great albeit reflective mood.

He walked up behind Ray and nestled down beside him. Ray had flinched but upon the realisation that it was merely Gavin he went back to his planting, barely acknowledging him. Despite the fact that he was almost used to this, it still stung. Almost being a key word here. He reached over and wrapped an arm around Ray’s shoulders. Ray resisted slightly but whether he was too tired to resist or just happy for someone else to take the initiative, he allowed himself to be pulled in to Gavin. He clung to Gavin like a small child as Gavin nuzzled his hair with his lips. He tilted his face up and leant in to a deep kiss. Ray all but sighed in to it and brought his hand down to Gavin’s knee. They kissed for only a few seconds but it was the closest they had gotten for such a long time that the slightest touch blazed across the skin. Gavin nipped at Ray’s bottom lip and pecked his forehead.  
They looked up to see Michael staring at them with an odd look on his face. A mixture of want, happiness and worry. Like he was suddenly remembering something that he had forgotten but was so important. Gavin extended an arm and invited him to join them before he looked away and went back to doing laps around the house. Gavin pined a little but turned back to Ray, who had been as affected by Michael as he was of them. He had a sorry expression on his face, shrugged Gavin’s arm away and went back to his chores. Gavin picked himself up and tried not to make his sniffles too loud. Ray and Michael payed him no mind.  
***  
It was another day at chipping into the beanstalk, when Gavin hoisted himself up and reached the top. He looked at the tip of the plant in confusion and then looked over his shoulder to see the castle. A huge smile broke on to his face after seeing the familiar sight of the humungous castle.

He made it.

It took him months but he made it.

He wasn’t sure exactly what it meant but Gavin felt an overwhelming sense of peace wash over him, like he was supposed to be here. As if he had strayed the path of destiny and now he was back.

Gavin inhaled deeply and sat up on the concrete that sat snugly on the clouds and looked down. Even though he felt completely at home in even the tallest of oaks, the tremendous height he was from gave him an extremely dizzying feeling; enough to grip the pavement he was sitting on. He rolled his tongue forward and opened his mouth, allowing the saliva to drip out and fall for a solid minute before hitting the ground below him.

I mean, what now?

This was the point that enough would be enough.

Joel was coming this week and after that, they were told they would be moved to a different location and paid for their troubles. They would have enough money to last them each for a lifetime of luxury. They all had their little things to pass the stress away and this had been Gavin’s.

But he had completed it and there would be no more waiting for Joel. He would see Lindsey off tomorrow or the next day for good, have a little walk around to take in their village one last time and then hide out in the hovel waiting for Joel with the rest of them, surviving on the last of their food. Within a week they would be gone, within another week some other desperate traveller with a family would pass by their empty house and resume life within it. The garden would be tended to with seeds already planted (courtesy of Ray who hated to see his hard work go to waste) and the belongings would be in there for the taking. In this economy, finding a place ready to go like that was a dream.

They wouldn’t need to take anything with them. They were about to take on a life where if something broke or you didn’t like something, you could simply buy another one. Such frivolous thinking was utter madness for a regular resident in Achievement City, but not for them.

They were about to leave it all behind them…

The least he could do was thank the 3 reasons why in the castle.

Gavin felt a thrill in deep in his stomach on his way. The last time he had been here, he had been running in terror from the possibility of being caught and the entire stakeout going to waste. However, there was nothing to take, just a casual call-in was all. He had been hoping to get more from the giants to make the waiting around easier, but it took too much time and Gavin was only suspecting that that was some excuse just to get back here.

He walked up to the old window and climbed the wall. They hadn’t fixed the crack in the window yet.

Good. 

He leant against the wall and when he heard voices. His heart rate crept up when he peeked beyond the glass and just the tops of all three of the giants leaning on each other on a couch facing away from him. God it felt like it had been forever, but there they all were.

Ryan

Jack

Even Geoff

He breathed a sigh of relief and walked through the crack in the window, where he wouldn’t be seen. He had no idea how to even broach them for a thank you and looked around. He liked them but he still didn’t trust them to not eat him. He wanted to write out a message through quiet means so as not to alert them.

He looked up at the clean window and then back down to his filthy feet. The dirt that had forever been between his toes to the point it was almost growing moss.

Kindof weird but it would do.

He knelt down softly and began to swish his finger in his mouth. The spit-covered finger would then stripe up the dirty sole of his foot and he would apply the disgusting solution to the window. He had just reached the “A” in “THANK YOU” when he finally tuned in to their conversation.

“Is your belly still at you hun?”

Geoff groaned and rustled on the couch.

“Yeah, I must have slept on it wrong last night.”

“How could you have possibly done that?” piped up an amused Ryan.

“I don’t know! Shut up!”

Jack snickered.

“Come here hun. Lie down, I’ll make it better.”

Gavin paused and looked over. There was movement on the couch when he saw the top of Geoff’s head disappear as he laid down on the couch on top of Ryan and Jack.

“Oof! Careful there!”

The couch groaned under them but not as much as Geoff.

“Do something” he whined almost pitifully.

Gavin now watched intently as best as he could and could only imagine what was happening from this angle.

“Lift up your shirt there- there you go. Now relax”

Jack then laid his hand on Geoff’s belly and began to soothingly rub little circles. Geoff moaned in contentment and fully relaxed, his upper half on Jack, his head resting on Ryan’s lap. Geoff looked up at Ryan, trying his best to give him some sort of puppy dog face.

Ryan snorted. “How the mighty fall, huh Geoff?”

Geoff grabbed Ryan’s hand and let it lie in his hair.

“Are you kidding? This is how winners are treated.”

“Oh is it now?” 

“Hush both of you,” interrupted Jack smiling along, “don’t spoil the mood.”

Ryan gave Jack a quick wink and began to gently massage Geoff’s scalp, the contented Geoff sighing happily underneath.

Gavin watched all this with hungry eyes.

He looked back at the “THANK YOU”, a sign they were taught in the boarding house growing up. Gavin, Ray and Michael practised the scribble for ages before they were any good. Apparently this kind of stuff would be easier if you could read or know the letters, but unfortunately they were left high and dry for that one. Their lifestyles never demanded it, nor were they wealthy so they never learnt how. They just did as the missionaries taught, and keep the little phrases in case they were needed. They knew the numbers and the odd phrase like “please” and “thank you”. Michael never had the patience for it and forsake it completely, while Ray would look over it from time to time as it would come handy in some situations. However, Gavin loved it. He had always wanted to learn how to read and write and talk properly and learn all the languages and everything else there was to know in this world. He was an idiot, and he had always made it his mission to fix it. Michael and Ray had found him staring for ages at old posters, forsaken books and crumpled newspapers, trying to make sense of it all, praying for the letters to start clicking in his brain. Alas, nothing came of it. Hours and hours were wasted and wishing to be something he wasn’t. Ray and Michael found him that evening, his tears blotting the paper beneath him. They knelt next to him and wrapped him tightly in their arms, showering kisses on every bit of skin they could find.

“It’s ok Gavvers,” they whispered.

“One day you’ll get there.”

It didn’t help him read, but it helped him understand. They laid like that all night and only grew closer. Exactly as the giants were doing right now. Gavin wrapped his arms around himself, growing colder by the second.

That seemed to be the reason he came back.

The closeness, the easiness of it all, the happiness, the content. All this had been missing for so long in the house to the point where Gavin was all out of sadness and misery. He was now just empty.

He just wanted his boys back.

He laid down on the window sill, his eyes swimming in tears but with a sad smile as he closed his eyes and focused on the sounds of a happy family.

Without ever meaning to, he drifted off into a deep sleep. A man with a bright pink moustache watched from outside. He checked his watch and licked his finger, holding it to the sky.

“It’s all about to change” he muttered before darting behind a giant dandelion stalk and disappearing as the sleeping Gavin was completely unaware of the attention he was about to receive or the massive drinking glass that was going to come down and trap him for good.


	8. Where the fuck did he go?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Emerges from balcony to a screaming audience before I scatter the pages of the new chapter into the air before turning around and going back into my chambers*
> 
>  
> 
> (Sorry about the ridiculous hiatus, I just finished up my Masters and I had to get a job as well. Now that both are out of the way i promise I will have more time for this. Also I would like to go back and change some of the pronouns because I know I included Kdin in this. It wouldn't be cool to keep the male pronouns around)

The sun had long set and Gavin had not returned from work. While any other day, this would only cause light worrying (and maybe Michael slapping himself in the forehead while muttering about the bird brain getting distracted in town again), there was heavy suggestion that Joel was finally going to arrive tomorrow.

They were to meet him at the crack of dawn at the Smuggler’s tree with the ring where the final deal would be made. All three of them were to show up, no exceptions. If so much as a hair was out of place in during the meeting, Joel’s posse would instantly slaughter them. If he’s happy by the end of it, Caleb and two other escorts will arrive on horses with an old carriage behind them. They would be shipped to another part of the world with enough money to never have a worry again. 

While they haven’t been on speaking terms with each other lately, Michael and Ray assumed that Gavin would not be thick enough to misunderstand that punctuality had never been more important in his god damn life.

So obviously, it’s today he decides to be very late home.

Michael was running laps around the perimeter of the clearing near their hovel to work off the stress while Ray was all but disassociating in their shitty garden; dreamily patting the earth with his hands until curious worms surfaced thinking it was rain. A few hours went by and there was still no sign of him. Michael had stopped his frantic sprinting and furious arguments to the wind and was now panting and walking while hugging his arms, all the while staring straight down the path that led to their home. The stars were almost mocking in their cheery twinkling. Ray snapped out of it through a harsh shaking of his shoulders.

“Did you hear me Ray?”

Ray’s glazed eyes drifted over to him in confusion.

“I said I’m going to look for him.”

Ray blinked. For the first time in a very long time, Michael was using a very hushed, almost sombre voice when speaking. His eyes traced the shadows of Michael’s haggard face and the rivulets of sweat that were heaping the in sunken hallows of his eyes. Michael was very tired and Ray could now see that it was in more ways than physically.

“You stay here and watch the house, if I don’t come back in an hour; I want you to leave. The ring won’t matter anymore. Just take the leftover cash we have and fucking run. We’ll find each other again. I promise.”

It was finally starting to sink in what Michael was implying.

“What do you think happened to Gavin, Michael?”

Michael pursed his lips and knelt down next to Ray. They sat in silence for several minutes. Ray hesitantly reached out and rubbed the back of Michael’s neck. He leaned into the touch and exhaled deeply. It had been a long time since there had been any intimate contact between each other that wasn’t interrupted or forced.

Michael tensed at the sound of an owl hooting in the trees and which in turn took him away from Ray’s hand. Ray flexed his hand in and out of a fist several times, trying to reclaim the feeling of finally touching Michael again.

“I don’t know. Like there’s no way. There’s no fucking way he would come back late on a day like this. I think maybe someone in town caught word- or- or maybe one Joel’s thieves got him in an alleyway or something.”

Ray swallowed and contemplated the possibility. To even think of them coming so close only for Gavin to die just like that; in some godforsaken alley behind the whorehouse he works in. the thought alone made the bile in his something lurch.

“You really think that’s where he’s gone? Maybe he’s… late Michael. Please” Ray at this point was starting to have trouble breathing. “Please god Michael please tell me he’s just fucking late.”

It was now Michael’s turn to clench his fists.

“I didn’t want to say it cause that makes it seem real. But … yeah I think that’s a possibility. Gavin’s dumb, but he’s not completely brainless.”

A cloud shifted in the sky allowing the full moon to be seen in the sky, only slightly blocked by the great beanstalk curving its way through the middle. Ray grabbed Michael’s hand.

“I’m coming with you.”

Ray, officially out of his trance for good, hopped up and before Michael could even refuse, he put a finger to his lips.

“If they got Gavin then they’ll be picking us off one by one. You’re not leaving me alone too.”

Michael pursed his lips into a thin lip and scowled. He kneaded his forehead with his fists and sighed bitterly.

“How the fuck did it all go so wrong?”

Ray dusted his hands off of his filthy shirt.

“Should we take it with us?”

Michael exhaled a slow breath and clasped his hands behind his head. That was a son of a bitch of a question. Would it honestly be safer with them for possible bandits or face the wrath of Joel after having it stolen while they were gone?

Finally Michael answered.

“We’ll bring it with us. If shit hits the fan we fucking run. There has to be other smuggling units in the world.”

Ray nodded and unearthed the wrapped treasure. He kept the blanket wrapped around the gold band to avoid unnecessary glinting in the moonlight. The last thing they both needed was more attention. He hitched it up around his waist to save Michael the strain that may cause one of his horrible migraines.

“It’ll be ok” he started, unsure if this was intended to calm down Michael or himself. “He can take care of himself and is probably on his way back now. We’ll most likely meet him halfway, turn around and be able to make it back just in time for Joel. Then it’ll all be fucking over.”

He looked over for more reassurance form Michael.

Michael didn’t even acknowledge him.

Michael grabbed what was left of the coins they had and stuffed the little bag into no place the robbers ever looked. Way deep in his underwear. If they were fucking dying tonight he could at least die knowing his dick was way deep in cash. It would be a hilarious story to tell in the afterlife.   
***

They walked closely together in the woods with their ears strained for unusual noises. Ray almost cringed at his own noises of swallowing the gathering saliva in his mouth or the heart pounding in his chest. Michael, on the other hand, had his dagger out ready to go if there was any sign of trouble. They followed the path with their eyes peeled, dreading any sign of scarlet darkening the way to town.

They reached the giant beanstalk when they stopped for a brief reconnaissance. Judging by how early in the morning it was, if they wanted to make it back to Joel on time and chance a deal they would have to turn back now.

“We can’t leave him here to die alone”

They looked at each other.

Neither was sure who said it, but the truth had been laid out. If they were to turn around and keep the deal going, Joel would whisk them away to their fantasy island where they would never be allowed back to Achievement City again. He would make absolute sure that no one would ever find them either.

Its paradise for a party of three.

But with one missing?

What’s even the point?

Even if they lived the rest of their lives in the middle of bumfuck who gives a shit, at least they would have each other. 

“It’s over. We’re finished”

Neither was sure who said that either. But once again, the terrible truth was spelled out, almost callously.

Michael took Ray’s hand, brought it close to his chest and wept. He knelt down and took Ray with him. Ray took his hand back gently and wound it tightly against Michael. The rare moments where Michael showed this level of emotion was never a cause for mockery. It was something they dealt with too. They leaned against the thick bark of the beanstalk for support for a little while before Ray kissed Michael on the forehead softly and pulled him up on his feet.

“Let’s find our lad. And then we’ll figure out what to do, ok?”

Ray swallowed the disturbing sight of a Michael who was utterly stripped of passion and tenacity. He looked like a small child who had gotten lost and was unable to find his way home. To steady himself, he placed his hand against the flesh of the beanstalk.  
And pretty much sank in to it.

Michael gave a surprised yelp as he nearly lost his balance through his hand sinking into a hidden hole in the plant. Ray slapped his palm on Michael’s mouth, looking around to see if they had attracted attention.

“Michael! What the fuck? Are you trying to get everyone in the town to get out here?”  
Michael tore his face back from Ray’s emergency gag in annoyance.

“It’s not my fucking fault” he hissed at Ray. “My hand got stuck in the-“

Michael’s voice trailed off as he looked to where he was gesturing. Ray watched in confusion that slowly turned into abject horror as Michael smoothened his palm upwards on the side of the beanstalk to reveal a word that had been cut into the side.

GAVIN

And just overhead was a set of footholds.

“You don’t think?..” posited Ray before he turned back to Michael.

From a third party perspective, the transformation on his face was downright comical. Picture a fast forward time skip of milk turning sour; the creamy colour turning to a starting white before curdling into a yellowish green. Michael’s gaping mouth of shock suddenly clacked together as the rage started to kick in. he latched onto he plant with trembling hands, his knuckles whitening as he furiously began to haul himself up the beanstalk. Ray quickly grabbed his shoe.

“Michael what the fuck?”

He took no heed. He didn’t even look down.

“I’m going… oh fuck I’m going… he’s a dead fucking man.”

Soon Michael was way out of Ray’s reach. Ray, arms outstretched, looked around for the punchline of this sick joke. There was no fucking way that Gavin would go back up there, would he? Granted those footfalls were DEFINITELY not there the time Gavin made his glorious return. What on earth was Michael playing at? Exerting himself up a staircase to beat the shit out of his love in a giant’s land! And leaving ray behind to not get a good dig himself? The fucking cheek!

Ray tentatively sunk his hand into the fleshy pulp of the stalk and gripping down hard on the thick folds; he began to heave himself and the ring up.

Unbeknownst to him, it was it going to be a very long time before his feet would ever touch the ground again.  
***

It was when Ray shivered violently did the full impact of his a literal band of gold with a jewel the side of his head did the full gravity of the situation begin to kick in.

Literally

He didn’t know why the air was colder the further he went up, wasn’t he moving closer to the rising sun? It was beginning to peak out from behind the roving hills in the distance and Ray had begun to wonder if Joel was waiting for them right now? If he was, they might as well get killed climbing up this bloody thing because at least a drop from this height would provide far more mercy than Joel and his crew. Michael was still in a mad frenzy, all but clawing his way up the stalk to wrap his freckled hands around that skinny neck. Ray prayed to whatever God was listening that Michael wouldn’t suffer from one of his migraines and fall to his death. Michael always wanted to go out like his father in a blaze of glory. Ray knew that if Michael died in such a stupid way, he would never find peace from Michael’s ranting and raving ghost for the rest of eternity. He wished that he was wearing something warmer as the cold began to sneak into his system and rattle his core.

Which sadly was enough to shake loose the ring from its pace around his waist.

Ironically it felt like a caress.

Something that almost felt long forgotten; the metal had grown warm, from the prolonged exposure to Ray’s body heat. It slunk down like the moments where one of his boys sliding their hot hands slowly down his hips, plump lips sucking at the back of his neck, and grinding their heavy dicks into the cleft of his ass. Ray’s eyes fluttered during the moment.

What a nice thought to have before you die.

The ring slipped down his knees and caught on the knee that was climbing up and hallway down the leg ground into beanstalk for security. A garbled scream clawed its way out of Ray’s throat as he panicked and clung to the length of the beanstalk. Michael finally snapped out of his fevered climbing and looked down to see Ray’s loosening grip on and the ring travelling further and further down his body.

“Oh fuck! Oh SHIT! RAY- HANG ON!”

Michael began to clamber back down to Ray who was clearly going to fall in a matter of seconds. Please god please shit fuck don’t let him die please god don’t please- the string of muddled words that were cycling through his brain were drowning out the mad fear that he was finally seeing how high up they were. 

“HANG ON RAY! IM ALMOST THERE!”

He was a few feet away from Ray, unable to go any lower as the single line of footholds would not let him climb farther. With his heart beating wildly in the back of his throat, he carefully knelt down, putting all his weight in his core strength and held out one hand to Ray.

“GRAB MY HAND RAY! TAKE IT!”

Ray, who had his face pressed into the side of the plant, scraped his face upwards to see Michael reaching down for him, barely holding on with one hand. While his face remained blank, there were tears streaming out of his eyes.

“help me”

It came out in a harsh whisper. Ray’s arms remained wrapped around the tree. Michael could see the ring move further down Ray’s legs, making him slowly with him. Michael leaned even further down. He tried a different approach, one that hopefully got through to Ray. He smiled and relaxed his shoulders. 

“Come on babe, you can’t let me do all me work.”

He winked at Ray and a slow smile began to stretch across his face.

“It’s been a while since you called me that.”

Michael prayed that Ray didn’t see the huge beads of sweat that were pouring down his face.

“If you take my hand, I’ll wake you up with that name for the rest of our lives if you want.”

Ray’s arms began to shimmy up the side of the beanstalk.

“I’d like that” he said before letting go and falling backwards. Michael snatched his flailing hand out of the air and pulled him in. He dug his other hand that was supporting them both deeper into the pulp of the plant and prayed that it would hold. He was now holding the full weight of Ray and he dangled from the side of the beanstalk, yelping as he tried to simultaneously reach out to the beanstalk and keep the ring from falling away. Michael knew what had to be done.

“RAY! Let go of the ring!”

Ray gawked at Michael.

“ARE YOU CRAZY? AFTER EVERYTHING? MICHAEL IT’S ALL WE HAVE LEFT!”

Michael’s fingers were becoming unstuck from deep in the stalk.

“RAY ITS OVER! LET THEM TAKE IT! THERE’S NOTHING LEFT FOR US DOWN THERE!”

Ray drew out the breath he was holding and uncrossed his legs, allowing the ring to finally free itself from his body and drop like a stone into the trees below. The momentum allowed Ray to grab a foothold on the beanstalk and plant his feet firmly into the dugout holes. Michael, with one final grunt of exertion, swung upwards and grabbed on to the foothold that was above him. After dispersing his weight through his whole body again, the muscles in his highs, knees and hand nearly screamed in relief.

They stayed there for a minute panting and sweating in relief. Ray’s knees were knocking but weren’t going anywhere in the stance he was in when he something he never thought he’d see from this perspective; a cloud coming straight towards him. He had no idea how high they had actually climbed and now that there wasn’t a great weight slowing him down or a scrambling Michael to worry about, they had time to take in the view. He looked down to see if he could see how far the ring had fallen, but couldn’t see it through the thicket of trees.

“Michael” he started in wonder “look how high we are.”

Michael looked down and nearly vomited at the sight. It was only kicking in now what nearly befell the both of them just there.

“Ray please, please don’t do this to me.”

Ray smirked and looked back up at Michael.

“Where did the hero go just there? What happened to me being your babe Michael?”

It’s was Michael’s turn to plant his face firmly into the bark of the beanstalk.

“Your hero is trying to get over his fucking panic attack from saving your dumbass, give him that for fucks sake.”

Ray looked up to see that they had climbed up over halfway up the beanstalk and were nearly at the top. To both of their surprises, through cloud passed through them, leaving them both… wet? The new worry of having to brush off the cotton candy substance off of them evaporated instantly as they were both left instantly drenched. They looked at each other, completely bemused and started to laugh, shaking off the last of their near death experience.

“I have so much to fucking re-evaluate” chuckled Michael as he began to slowly lurch himself up the side of the plant, dripping water droplets down every time he moved. Ray also began to follow him, following his slow and steady pace.

“You know I can see now why he’s always in the trees” Ray started wistfully.

Michael either didn’t hear or chose not to answer as he kept up his lead.

Ray looked at the cloud that was now blissfully sailing away and licked his dripping chapped lips.

“It’s quite a view.”  
***

Joel wasn’t what they called a patient man. 

He was known for being other things. He was good natured, handsome, and soft spoken. These attributes, however, did not make a generous man, or a forgiving one.  
And most of all not a kind one. 

Caleb quadruple checked the marked tree in case there was some misinterpretation with the scratches that wound around it, but no new emergency markings had been set. There was no reason this meeting wasn’t going ahead. 

Joel sighed and checked his pocket watch for the third time, which in his opinion was always three times too many.

“What seems to be the problem Caleb?”

Caleb nervously reported back that there has been no misreading of the text on the tree. He was always unnerved by the natural smile that Joel had on his face. Joel nodded and snapped his fingers, still looking the picture of cool and carefree. One of his personal guards took Caleb by the shoulder and dislocated it as he threw him to the ground. Caleb screamed in silence. Joel gave them all an order that utmost quiet for his dealings and even the sound of a coin clinking on to the ground would end in grisly and inaudible death. You speak when you’re spoken to, you do as he says and you always leave him to think. Those were the laws of Joel.

“Real shame. Real damn shame. I saw those reports and the artist’s interpretation. Looked like a real pretty thing” Joel casually said as he walked past Caleb and began to read the history of markings on the tree.

“Caleb where does this young man live? I have a just have a few quick questions to ask him before I head on my way.”

The guard now had lifted up Caleb by his hair and held the knife to his throat. Caleb blinked back the bitter tears in his eyes and hoarsely whispered “keep going straight. 10 minute walk. Can’t miss it.”

Joel snapped his fingers and began to walk, twirling his cane as he took long cheery strides; with all the airs and graces of someone taking their dog for a walk. Caleb was pulled roughly to his feet and was immediately joined by an equally worried Kdin. She grimaced apologetically and slipped a small vial of rum into his hand to help him with the pain. Caleb knocked it back in one go, hoping that this would be over soon so he could privately sort out his arm and scream for all the pain that he was bottling up.

Fuck Michael.

What the fuck have you done to yourself?  
***

Michael halted their progress when the stalk was thin enough to wrap their arms around and touch their fingertips together. They called out to Gavin who should have heard them by now. How much longer did they have to climb? The sun had well passed over them at this point and was now starting on the path to setting. They were climbing for hours and yet there was still no sign of their idiot. They had to take several breaks between climbing when they would find particular deep footholds where they could stretch out their legs. Honestly it was madness that Gavin would take the time to gauge out these little climbing holes for his pleasure. It made them queasy to think of how many times Gavin was zipping up and down this thing for kicks while they were preoccupied with their own worries. Maybe if they had paid more attention to him that time ago, things may have been different. Maybe he would have shared the information. Maybe he would have never gone up. Maybe he found something up there that they couldn’t give him anymore.

So many ifs and buts but ultimately useless in this current universe.

They were now on the verge of reaching a thick wall of cloud that was cutting off the rest of the beanstalk from view. Michael tried to crane his hear to peer around the fucking thing but to no avail.

“Ray I’m going to quickly stick my head through this thing to see what the story is.”

Ray nodded underneath.

“Ok but please be careful.”

Michael took a deep breath and slowly raised his head through the clouds. For a moment, Ray thought that they had both wildly misjudged the physics of clouds as Michael’s head wasn’t coming down from it. At last after what seemed like ages, Michael lowered himself down, water trickling off of his sodden curls and absolutely dumbstruck.

“What Michael? What did you see?” hissed Ray as Michael was all but disassociating out of his body. “MICHAEL!”

Michael snapped out of it at Ray’s raised voice. He blinked, stuck his head through the clouds and then lowered himself, head cocked to one side and blinking even more rapidly.

“Ray…” he began slowly, unsure how to even process the information himself. “I think we actually did fall back there…”

“What? What the hell are you talking about?”

More blinking

“I just can’t decide whether we reached heaven or hell…”  
***

Joel toed the tattered rags with a fine leather boot and watched his goons demolish the house, inside and out.

“Terrible thing poverty” he said aloud to those who had not been given an order yet. “Makes good men do terrible things.”

He squashed the rags that once upon time were used as a blanket for all three of the men who resided in that house into the mud.

“Like stealing.”

When the house had been thoroughly ransacked to his satisfaction, he snapped his fingers and sent his guards down the path that led to town, instructing them to keep to the shadows and to avoid revealing themselves to the public. He was instructing another in his party to make a list of local merchants who may have disappeared in the last week when two of his guards rushed back and whispered something in his ear. His smile grew impossibly wider and a sickly gleam washed over his cold eyes.

“Well in that case, scratch out that last bit and let’s press on shall we?”

He walked even faster now, almost a hazard to walk beside with that swinging cane. After a good ten minutes of a brisk pace they happened upon two of his guards who had kept guard of the bundled wrapped item that lay embedded in the wooded soil. The blanket that was covering it did a poor job of hiding the gleaming gold underneath.  
He snapped his fingers impatiently at Caleb who limped forward and gestured at his guard to pick up his prize. The guard remained as impartial as she could as she unwrapped the ring, the jewel glistening in the setting sun.

“Is this it Caleb?”

“Yes sir.”

He swung the cane at the Caleb’s knees, forcing him into a kneeling position. Joel pressed the heel of the cane into his throat as the miserable thief tried not to cry in front of his peers.

“I don’t like liars Caleb so answer me this very carefully. Do you have any idea what happened to them?”

“N-ooo-ooo-ooooo” wheezed Caleb as the cane pressed on his windpipe and squeezed it tighter and tighter, draining the air from his chest.

Joel seemed satisfied with the answer. Perhaps it was his impatience to finally see this bejewelled golden treasure he had been told so much about. He swung the cane up, knocking Caleb’s head into unconsciousness and nodded towards one of the other bulkier guards to carry him the rest of the way back. Blaine reached down and picked Caleb up like a ragdoll and threw him over his shoulder. Joel laid a hand on the gold. Maybe it was his love of treasure but it was almost warm. He snapped his fingers one last time, which told everyone that the show was over and that it was time to head back.  
Before he left the clearing however, he turned to the party member who was making notes as to other enquiries that Joel had to attend to today and told him to make a note of the very strange plant that had bloomed in the middle of the forest, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the thick forest.

That would be something he would deal with later. Now was the time to revel. His wide, wide smile was now showing gums and his party knew not to look directly at him in this kind of mood.

Joel was known to have a friendly smile when he was livid.

It was when the smile turned sinister that Joel was extremely and exceedingly happy.  
***

Ray was pretty grounded man.

While Gavin’s tall tales and Michael’s brashness did tend to raise his eyebrows at some of their descriptions, he always searched for the grain of truth in their stories. Michael’s mother was probably not a bear who won the heart of his father in a particularly rambunctious arm wrestling match. Ray pictured a hairy brute of a woman who downed her ale fast and roared louder at anyone’s jokes that night; a woman after Mogar’s heart no doubt. Gavin as well fully accepts that he was raised by the creeper monsters of the free forest but Ray assumed that his wild parents were killed in a creeper explosion, earning him his burns. Ray was sure that Michael was over exaggerating when he informed Ray that they clearly fell to their death a couple of hundred feet below. Perhaps the view of the landscape was getting to him.

And then Michael climbed up allowing Ray to peek over the blanket of clothes.

“Shit you’re right. We fucking died!”

Ray looked on to see a huge castle in the distance that looked like it waltzed straight out of the old fairy-tale books at the orphanage; each tower and stained glass window that no painter could ever do justice. Thin ribbons of clouds were circling around it as if it was an enormous snow globe. A garden of lush flowers and stems that had Ray salivating surrounded it with a path that led straight to it. All while magically floating on top of a cloud. It was fucking beautiful.

And it was fucking huge.

How on earth were they ever going to find Gavin in that fucking monstrosity?

It wasn’t like they didn’t believe Gavin but god how could they have taken everything so literally. Their minds were unable at the time and now that they were given the cold hard proof of the situation… well… there would be no more peaceful sleeps for the rest of their days. Who knows what else they don’t know about in this universe, waiting to be discovered?

They clambered on top of the cobblestone path and rested for a minute. Michael stretched his legs while Ray rubbed his sore back.

“You think Gavin’s in there?” asked Ray, who was thoroughly shaken by this very recent blow to the foundations of everything he was thought was impossible and fantasy.  
“I guess” replied Michael. “Either way, we came all this way and it could be worth the look. No way will it be more dangerous up here than it will be down there.”

“You have a great fucking point.”

At that they took each other’s hands for strength and began their trek down the path to the house. 

Ray audibly gulped at the steadily growing height of the vegetation as they continued on Michael was gritting his teeth in an effort to calm his nerves. Seriously what crazy magic nonsense had they all been dragged into? Upon reaching the huge door of the castle that towered over them, higher than any building they’ve ever seen. They encountered their first problem.

“So… how do we get in?”

They looked at each other in utter bemusement. Michael scratched his hair and squinted up at the damn thing.

“I mean listen, no ‘fense to Gavin but if he could get in, anyone could get the fuck in.”  
Ray walked closer to the door, knocking on certain parts.

“It’s sturdy as shit, he didn’t bust his way in.”

Michael began to rapidly pace back and forth as Ray continued to inspect the sides of the door.

“No… he couldn’t have squeezed himself through here, not even Gavin is that skinny.”  
Michael stopped and splayed his hands forward.

“This is bullshit! To get in like Gavin we have to think like Gavin.”

Michal fumbled around the cobblestone for a bit before he lifted up a sizeable rock and tried to hand it to Ray.

“Quick! Beat me on the back of the head with this, and the solution will come!”

Ray took the rock and threw it far away, despite Michael’s protests. He brought Michael’s forehead to his lips, gave him a quick peck and shooed him away whispering that a rock wouldn’t be necessary right now to reach Gavin level of absurd.  
They scouted around the edge of the castle for a bit before coming along the stained glass window that was closest to them.

“Maybe if we climb higher, get a better vantage point, we’ll be able to figure this shit out.”

Ray nodded, uneasy at the prospect of more climbing today and gripped the rough side of the castle and hauled himself up. After a ten minute climb, they surveyed the scene underneath them. The sun had now lowered beneath the mountains and the stars were twinkling in the sky. There were so much more now that they had the full view of the sky without the huge cloud in the way. It was breath-taking. But they were still no closer to finding a way into the castle.

It was at that moment where Ray turned around to get a better view of the glass design when he saw the broken hole at the corner, with light streaming out, granting access to the castle. He tapped Michael’s shoulder and pointed. Michael grabbed Ray’s forearms and leaned in really close.

“He never finds out about this.”

Ray agreed and they crept into the castle.

They were greeted to a cosy fire crackling in the largest and most lavish sitting room they have ever seen with their eyes. A plush carpet lay underneath a couch with matching chairs with elaborate flowers stitched into the fabrics. The wall was covered in framed art and woven tapestries and ornaments were littered on the black marble mantelpiece. A small stool sat snugly in the middle of the room with an upturned glass. Michael and Ray’s mouth fell open at the sight. They both felt a sleazy chill run up their spines as their grubby clothing and starved bodies would never belong in a lovely place like this. It was unpleasant but they gave themselves a moment to breathe and pretend that they could ever belong somewhere as nice as this. It was a dirty note scrawled on the glass that both snapped them unpleasantly out of their fantasy.

THANK YOU

That was definitely Gavin’s shoddy handwriting.

And it was definitely very recent, which meant that Gavin was here after all.  
The revelation took a bigger toll on them than they anticipated. Ray leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and put his hands to his face. Michael leaned over and slung one arm over his shoulders, while fighting back the tears himself. On one hand it was almost a relief that their instincts were right and they didn’t just blow their entire future on a hunch. On the other hand they now had to deal with the problem that Gavin may be at the mercy of giant monsters in this nightmare castle. They held each other, both looking for guidance at what the fuck they were supposed to do next.

That was when they heard a tiny, muffled sob coming from the upturned glass on the stool. Michael and Ray squinted down at the light blob that lay in the centre, which was curled up and crying his eyes out.

It was Gavin!

Dropping all pretences, Michael gave a hearty roar and abandoning any sense of self-preservation he had, immediately scrambled his way down to the carpet; leaping on to the couch and hurtling himself across huge gaps.

“DAMMIT MICHAEL!” screamed Ray as he furiously chased after Michael, trying to yell out that a plan should have been formed before literally rushing into the den of monsters. There was no reasoning with Michael at this very moment however.

“MY BOI! MY BOI! I FOUND YOU! MY BOI!”

Michael could feel the beginning of one of migraines, most likely brought on from a day of hard climbing, adrenaline and little to no sustenance to fuel him. He pushed that thought out of his head though just to get closer to the idiot he had no idea he missed so much. His trembling arms hoisted himself up the stool, grabbing onto wooden whorls and knots in a fever, always to climb higher, always trying to climb faster while Ray followed him yelling at him to slow down. Gavin raised his head and stood up quickly in shock when he saw the red curly hair of his boi pop up from the side of the stool.

“Michael? MICHAEL!” he hiccupped into a grateful sob as they were re-joined. Their hands touched from opposite sides of the glass and Gavin gave another startled shout when Ray hauled himself up on the stool to join them.

“It’s ok Gav! We’re going to get you out of here!” panted Michael as he began to slam his fists into the glass in an effort to smash it. Ray, who had also caught the panicked fever, shoved Michael away, pressed a kiss into the glass for Gavin, bent down and attempted to lift the glass up onto its side. Michael and Gavin also bent down, slide their fingers under the glass, and strained to lift the damn thing higher and faster. The efforts paid off a little too well as the heavy glass was flung on to its side after several moments of heaving. It created a deafening CRUNCH on the carpet, bits of it being sent everywhere.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?”

Gavin paled as a booming voice from somewhere else was clearly aware of their exploits.

“GET THE FUCK OUT!” he shrieked before grabbing Michael and Ray and beginning to swing down on one of the tassels on the stool cushion. Ray and Michael, quickly understanding how much shit they were in, scrabbled down behind him as quickly as possible. While Gavin was accustomed to it at this point, Michael and Ray’s teeth were clacking as there was a series of heavy synchronised shudders coming closer to the room. Giant footsteps. They were halfway across the room when the giant door to the living room swung open and in walked a heavily armoured man with a matching green helmet who towered over them completely.

“OH SHIT THERE’S FUCKING MORE OF THEM!”

They paid him no mind and only increased their pace as they dashed to the couch to climb up it.

“HEY WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING YOU LITTLE FUCKS?” yelled the giant before he stood right on the pile of broken glass.

“OWWWW FUUUUUCK!”

The giant grabbed his bleeding foot and hopping on the other almost comically were it not for the fact that now there were other thundering footsteps advancing towards the room. Two more giants burst into the room; one with red shorts, a stained green shirt and a blue helmet and the other in a particularly dashing suit jacket and kilt with a hideous skull mask. There was a brief pause as they surveyed the scene with their heads turning to the original giant nursing his foot.

“DON’T JUST FUCKING STAND THERE, GET THEM!”

The three lads were hauling ass up the sides of the couch and were very close to reaching the top. Gavin was the first one to make the leap of faith across the gap between the couch to the window. His agile body flew on to the window pane with the grace of a boy who practically grew up hopping from tree to tree. Ray was next, while he was not even nearly as nimble as Gavin, he still had enough energy to fling himself across. He was also very lucky to have Gavin reach out his hand, grab Ray and pull him across the extra few inches which would have made the difference. The giants who had regained their composure were now marching towards the window, their shoulders squared ready for action. Knowing Michael’s raw strength, Gavin and Ray both slipped out of the hole in the window into safety outside, confident in his ability to make it across ok. Michael’s head, however, was throbbing by the time he reached the top of the couch. While it had started with light drumming, the panic and adrenaline rush, not to mention the full frontal sprint had increased it to a full frontal thumping. He was very close to vomiting all over the couch. His fatal mistake was briefly turning around to see a hand, that was the full size of his entire body, reach out to snatch him up. A yelp died in his throat and his body briefly froze up. The giant’s moans of pain along with the lads’ cries begging him to jump were drowned out by the painful pulses in his brain. The only thing that Michael’s mind processed was the huge hand coming towards him.

He never felt so… helpless.

As if he just remembered what he was supposed to do, his body pushed him forward in a half-hearted bound from the couch. Even in normal circumstances, this jump would have never made it. On the moment of putting all his power in to the stride, Michael fell unconscious due to the stress of the situation and his blistering migraine. His body fell like a rock after brief ascension. Luckily, or unluckily, he fell straight into the hand of the giant with the skull mask. Gavin and Ray watched with horror as his huge fingers curled around Michael’s limp body until he was completely blocked from view. The skull looked up from Michael’s hand and glared menacingly out at Gavin and Ray. Before even Ray had time to process a new plan, Gavin rushed back inside.

“DON’T HURT HIM! IT’S ME YOU WANT! IT’S ALL MY FAULT! JUST PLEASE DON’T HURT HIM!”

The giant descended on Gavin as well. He plucked him up by his thin shirt and held him closely to his face. Gavin’s white face was locked in a terrified “o” while waiting for the skull mask to contort itself and begin eating him. Thankfully, the face remained impartial and Gavin joined Michael as the hand opened slightly to fit him in. Ray nearly punched the wall. Why the fuck did they ever think this would be a good idea.

In the worst moment of his entire life, he hated them both.

He hated Gavin for getting them all involved in the first place.

He hated Michael for getting him up here.

And in that moment, he had never hated himself more than anything else in the world.  
Because that’s who he was.

Some fucking asshole that would follow the loves of his life into hell, lest he spend a day alone again.

And that’s why instead of running away, Ray bitterly walked back into castle, immediately greeted by the blank face of the victorious black skull and his outstretched hand.


	9. I'm fucking bricking it lads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fuck me I just realised that I have been unintentionally writing a goddamn Sky Factory AU this entire fucking time! So ye might notice that more detail going into this fic in relation to that. Now obvi with the switch between Jeremy and Ray there's going to be a different interpretation of the blood mage part of the AU but I promise I'm already writing down potential arcs for that little story line.

Ray’s mind raced at the hot and heavy darkness that surrounded him and the others. Gavin was snuggled up next to Michael, cooing in his ears, in an effort to wake him up. Ray purposefully angled himself away from the other two, blaming them both for their doom. Why the fuck should he have to die for the mistakes of these two fucking dipshits? He mulled over the last 2 minutes of his life and how the fuck it all went so wrong so quickly. Maybe if they let Michael jump first they would have all gotten out on time, or maybe if they took a quick rest to let Michael’s head rest, or were the giants already on their way? Wasn’t it the glass smashing that alerted them? If it never broke would things have worked out? His own head was starting to throb now as wave after wave of missed possibilities crashed into him and slithered in the back of his throat. He gagged at the efforts. He thought he heard Gavin whispering for him, but he refused to acknowledge it; partly out of focusing all his attention on what was about to happen to them, partly because he was in no fucking mood to give them the time of day right now.

There was a distant rustling sound with the odd “hmmm… where did I put it… I know it must be around here somewhere…” The deep mutterings went on for some time before they heard a delighted “ah! Of course!” followed by a grunt and a clatter of something metal being picked up.

Light streamed in and suddenly there was a complete loss of gravity as the giant opened his fingers and dropped them all into a giant gilded birdcage. There was straw on the floor while a little bell and swing hung a good few feet above them. Gavin immediately grabbed Michael and held him close, for fear he would get crushed by the huge bell dangling dangerously over them. Their stomachs lurched again as the giant picked up the birdcage’s handle and set off down the hallways. Ray grabbed on to the bars of their prison for support and tried to get more than his whole arm out. No chance. This son of a bitch would not grant access to anyone who was not paper thin. Ray looked up at the giant with the black skull mask and shivered slightly at the sheer size and weight of him. He was easily able to carry all three of them and this huge fucking birdcage with little effort, with even a jaunty swing to it (which was honestly not helping Ray’s case to keep the bile from rising to his throat).

The giant brought the birdcage into a large grand bedroom. The massive bed (that seemed even a little too excessive for 3 large giants) had 4 poles that held heavy curtains, drawn and hung with tassels. Paint splattered the wall in huge decorative sweeps and swirls, with shots that reached the ceiling in bursts of colour. There were shelves that were heavily weighted under the books and glittery knickknacks and jewellery. There was a polished wooden door that faced the bed. Skull face closed the door behind them and laid the birdcage on the bed. Blue helmet was sitting on the bed with Green helmet’s foot under a fluffy stained towel on his lap. He was peering closely at Green helmet’s foot and was using tweezers to pick shards of glass out of his foot. Green helmet looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here as he was clutching a pillow to his face. He yelled in protest when skull face brought the birdcage inside.

“HEY ASSHOLE! YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO BRING THEM IN UNTIL AFTER JACK WAS DONE WITH ME! I DIDN’T WANT THEM SEEING MY LIKE THIS!”

Blue helmet sighed and murmured under the mask “well I guess we’re just throwing out the names as well. Wasn’t that the reason you demanded that we put these on?” Green helmet clutched the pillow again and peered closer to Blue helmet’s progress. “Please” he scoffed “like walking death over there needed an excuse to wear that thing again!” Skull face looked up from the lads and looked over at green helmet. It was unclear what he thought about that comment given that his entire face was hidden but he did release a deep sigh and he returned to his task of glaring at the birdcage. Blue helmet picked out a particularly brutal shard of glass hat had green helmet whimpering slightly and bunching his face into the pillow. Blue helmet hushed him and tried to soothingly rub up and down green helmet’s leg, before it was swatted away by Green helmet who was trying to clear his throat. Ray could only imagine the stern face that he was giving green helmet underneath.

“You know what you’re like when you’re not the one dealing with your blood. Just relax and imagine it’s another one of our tattoos.”

Green helmet huffed but sat up straighter as if trying to still convey some intimidation to the lads; which Ray would still readily admit it was working.

Skull face sat on the bed and stared impassively down at the birdcage. Ray couldn’t even hold his gaze for more than a few seconds. He hadn’t the nerve. Finally, when Blue helmet had picked out all the glass and bandaged the lightly bleeding foot, Green helmet leaned forward on the bed to address the lads.

“What’s wrong with him?” he demanded.

He jerked a monstrosity of a finger in Michael’s direction. Ray’s voice got stuck in his throat as green helmet leaned closer and became the only thing in Ray’s line of sight. Gavin was the one who spoke up in defiance.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE YOU BULLY! HE NEEDS REST! HE PUSHED HIMSELF TOO FAR!”

Skull face growled and now it was his turn to push his face closer to the birdcage.

“Oh, don’t you worry. You are all WAY beyond the boundary of going too far.”

There was a softer quality to his voice, though nothing less threatening. It was very precise and calculated, though the barest hint of amusement tinging the edge of his lilt, as if this was all a game to him, but one he was very intent on winning. Ray was reminded of an old fairy tale about a fox that stood on his hind legs and persuaded parents with his silver tongue to give their children up for his dinner. Gavin squeaked in reply and huddled closer to Michael. Blue helmet sighed and began packing up a box with plasters and ointments in it. He walked out of the room and Green helmet and Skull face gave each other a look.

“Right” began green helmet. “What do you think we should do with them?” Skull face never looked away from them. Ray clutched the bars of the birdcage in fright as he realised the giant was deciding in front of them whether they should live or die.

“I’m thinking about it. It’s been a very long time since we saw someone that size.” Skull face head was resting against the bars of the cage. “I forgot how tiny you all were.”

A violent shiver racked Ray as he recoiled from the hideous sight of the monster. He immediately let go of the cage and shoved his hands under his armpits as he tried to get as far away as possible from the creepy giant as possible.

“Knock it off Ryan” scolded Blue helmet as he re-joined the room. Skull face moved away but still had his eyes trained on the lads inside. Michael groaned and started to move. Gavin kissed his forehead and began to whisper into his ear. He was either ignoring the situation or he was completely unaware that now all 3 giants who now had their full attention on the cage. Ray was feeling the brunt of this terrifying notion all by himself and he was not having it. Despite being outrageously pissed at his lads, he huddled into them for a safety that he damn well knew they couldn’t provide in the current situation. Gavin reached out and took him by the hand. Ray grudgingly found small comfort but let his hand hang limply. Small victories in   
such dire times.

Green helmet addressed them first.

“Now we have a lot of questions and if you answer them correctly then we have won’t Ryan bake your bones into bread.”

Skull face looked up. “I’m not entirely sure anyone would want to eat bread that crunchy Geoff…”.

“RYAN SHUT UP! YOU’RE KILLING THE MOOD!” Green helmet snapped. He looked down again.

“Now then how the fuck did you manage to get all the way up to our house?”

Gavin and Ray looked at each other while Michael moaned underneath. Ray jerked his head to Gavin as he was the guy who got him here. Gavin nervously stood up and cleared his throat. His eyes darted back and forth between the giants’ faces and swallowed what little spittle had not dried up in his mouth.

“Well I was on my way back from work when a magic man with a pink moustache appeared from behind a tree and asked for my cow in exchange for magic beans and then-“

SLAM

Skull face had brought his fist on the cage, rattling the lads to their very core. Michael whimpered on the straw.

“I’m beginning to very quickly change my mind about this bony bread idea” hissed skull face.

“It’s true!” cried Gavin. “He gave me magic beans and it grew a beanstalk and I climbed up it to see what was going on and I found the castle and I guess they followed me in the end.”

Blue helmet hummed. “So that’s where that weed came from. I pulled it as hard as I could, but it wouldn’t budge.” Gavin was instantly glad that he didn’t come up on one of the days that a huge giant was attempting to rip his one and only lifeline out of the fucking ground. Blue helmet gestured Gavin to keep going.

“So, I climbed up the beanstalk for food or something that could be sold for money and I came across the castle and stayed for a bit- “

“Where were you?” interrupted blue helmet. “We didn’t see you.”

Gavin paused and looked around nervously. Blue helmet sighed and said “we have you now. No point in leaving information out we just want to know.”

Gavin nodded feeling a little more confident in how Blue helmet was keeping the situation calm from whatever atmosphere Green helmet and Skull face were trying to create.

“I hid in your tea cosy in the kitchen and mostly went looking around during the night when I could hear snoring. I was only looking around I swear!”

Green helmet gave a loud start.

“Is that why it suddenly stank out of nowhere?”

With his face turning beetroot, Gavin admitted that he may or may not have had an accident in it “That may be wee. But I saw a hand the size of me coming in I could have had a heart attack and if you think about it that’s like 10 times worse!”

There was a pause before Green helmet threw his head back laughing; the room seemed to relax a little. Ray eased himself in a more comfortable position. Maybe they would get out of this ok; after all no harm had been done. They would promise not to tell anyone, for who would believe them? They would be let go, head back down, borrow an axe to chop he damn thing down, grab the ring, and start over in another part of the country. No problem.

“So, it wasn’t any of the chickens at the buns that day, it was you!” exclaimed Skull face who was also beginning to lean back and drop the menacing presence. 

“Ah man I thought I was going fucking insane when the fucking tea cosy smelt like piss” chortled Green helmet.

“What else did you do?” asked Blue helmet was starting to get into good spirits as well.

Gavin began to go into length about how he would watch the giants’ activities with some delight and plenty of confusion.

“I watched ye for ages just doing these things that didn’t make any flipping sense! There were so many rooms with stuff ye would mess around with and make things with and it was so interesting!”

In the time he was up in the castle, Gavin admittedly was more focused on finding something valuable worth selling that would not take too much explaining to the simple merchants below. When he would find one of the giants pressing the juice out of flowers or hovering over a bubbling mixture, he may have been unsure of the monetary value but goddamn did this weird domestic madness interest the shit out of him. That was definitely one of the factors that kept drawing him back.

“I have so many questions about all the things you do!” panted Gavin as if this was his dream, like an itch that he was finally able to scratch. “Gods! I don’t even know where to begin!”

Ray looked up from putting his palm on Michael’s forehead confused. Where was Gavin going with all this? Was this a ploy? A trick? Wheedling information out of the giants to try and escape? Sourcing out their weaknesses? The giants did seem interested and less hostile than before so fuck it. Let Gavin keep doing what he was doing. Gavin briefly looked down at Ray, almost as if he was asking for permission to keep going and Ray nodded in what he hoped was a less frantic and more encouraging way.

Gavin steadied his breath and finally let himself loose.

“Is there like a magic book shop nearby or do you rob them from a neighbour giant, also do you have neighbour giants? Do they live on the moon? Or is it more they live underneath the ground?”

Whatever everyone in the room was expecting it wasn’t that. Ray’s head slowly looked up to Gavin who was beaming with the confidence of a man with 10 huge dicks, seemingly delighted that he had condensed the most important questions into 1 satisfying query. Ironically the response was the opposite of what Gavin thought was going to happen. Instead of a very detailed discussion that reflected on the interpersonal relationships between the sky giants and the underground giants regarding trading bound books, the giants almost shook the birdcage off the bed from their laughter. Green helmet all but threw his head back with guffaws that were rocking the entire bed, while Blue helmet was all but hanging on to dear life on his shoulder, laughing his ass off. Skull face clasped a hand over his mouth, trying to smother his manic laughter.

“I cannot believe…” he started between chuckling, “that THAT is the first thing you want to ask to something that must be rocking your entire world right now!”

Gavin honestly looked a little hurt at the response but felt a little relief at the tension dissolving in the room. Skull face answered, “there are no underground or moon giants, I can’t even fathom where you got that notion!”

Gavin remained indignant. “But where did all the books come from? I’ve never seen so many in my life!”

“We made them, you dumbass!” wheezed Green helmet, thankful that he had temporarily forgotten about the pain in his foot. Michael whimpered and sought Ray’s hand. Ray squeezed his hand and brought it up to his lips for a quick kiss to quieten him down. Gavin was doing well at winning the giants over. Fuck it if he didn’t know how but whatever he was doing it was working. A little flutter of hope bloomed inside of him as he looked at Gavin with a little admiration. The ditz had a natural clueless charisma about him that seemed to work on almost anyone. Gavin may have gotten them into this mess but like many times before he was starting to get them out of it.

Gavin seemed enthralled by their answers. Questions began to spill from his mouth in quick succession, each tumbling over themselves as if it was a race to be answered first.

“Are they difficult to make? How long would it be? How do ye find the time or the room for them all?”

Blue helmet quietened down some and raised his hand to pause the oncoming storm directed at them. “It can’t be that different a process to how you make them, though it has been a while since we’ve been down below. Has the printing process evolved much in the past few decades?”

Gavin stopped confused. What on earth was he talking about? “We don’t make books. Those are for rich people only! I don’t think I’ve ever seen any being made- Ray when was the last time we looked at a book? It was the one in the nursemaids had right; the one with the pictures?”

Ray felt very uncomfortable when he felt all eyes turn to him. He nodded quickly, hoping the attention would fall back on Gavin who didn’t seem to mind it much at all. The laughing had quietened down but the interest the giants had in Gavin only piqued.

Skull face scratched the side of his mask thoughtfully “only the rich people have books? Is the economy on a steep decline or has learning expanded to new materials that we’re unaware of yet?” Gavin shook his head “no we still use books. Just the people with money can read that’s all. We don’t have much of a use for it.”

Blue helmet all but gasped out loud “wait! Let me get this straight? None of you can read?”

Gavin shook his head a little nervously, wondering if he had offended them accidently. Blue helmet exhaled deeply and leaned back slightly.

“I don’t know what you’ve been doing down there but fuck it does not sound like things have gotten better.”

Green helmet clasped a huge hand on the man’s shoulder and seeing the deflation of disappointment in him took over the conversation. “Anything else you want to know?”

Gavin glad that Green helmet was now addressing him, eagerly asked “What are those weird things on your skin?”

Ray’s shoulders tensed; terrified that Gavin had offended the huge man. Green helmet looked down at his exposed leg at the multi-coloured marks. He pulled off a bracer and held up his bare hand to Gavin. Etched on to the skin were patterns and prints. It had an intricately designed anchor with the rope curling around its metal ridges, his knuckles held an arrow, a lightning bolt, a crescent moon and a crown, a fire burned near his thumb and two straight slashes were stamped near the wrist. Gavin’s heart beat considerably faster as green helmet (who he knew clearly to be Geoff, he just wasn’t sure if he was allowed to say it) offered his hand to the cage. Gavin walked towards the bars and reached out to trace his tiny fingers over the arrow on his little finger. Gavin suppressed a shiver as he could almost feel Geoff’s smile behind the helmet. Blue helmet and Skull face (which Gavin assumed with confidence was Jack and Ryan in turn) stared at the exchange intently.

“They’re pretty” Gavin said without thinking. That gave birth to a tiny worm of doubt that wriggled unpleasantly in Ray’s belly. 

“Then what happened?” asked Green helmet softly who was being entranced by the tiny person running their small hands over his fingers and marvelling at his tattoos.

“…What?” Gavin shook his head lightly and glanced up at him. “What did you say?”

“Sorry, what else did you do while you were up here?”

“Oh” answered Gavin before returning to examining each of the marks carefully and admiring the different shades that flowed around his entire hand.

“I eventually missed my boys and decided to climb back down the beanstalk to be with them again. I went up and down a few times because I loved it here.” Ray looked over at Gavin, thankful but surprised that he was oh so conveniently leaving out the stolen item from the conversation but how also how earnest he was at that particular part. He “loved” being up here. The worm in Ray’s belly had now grown teeth and was nipping and tearing at his flesh. Was that what this whole thing was about? Was he considering leaving him and Michael for a life up with these 3 monsters? Gavin continued “So we were about to make a big move which meant that I would never see any of you again and I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, showing me so much more than I could have ever imagined, whether you knew it or not”, Ray pointedly looked away and curled up his fists a little at that little remark, “so I climbed back up one more time to write-“

“Thank you” finished Skull face. Gavin glanced up at him, almost forgetting he was even there in the first place. Blue helmet nodded at him and looked at Gavin “don’t worry we saw your little message on the window. We didn’t know how to react to a written thank you note with a tiny sleeping man beside it. I think we panicked a little and thought the worst of you” Ray looked around the room and saw what could be arguably guilt in the giant’s positions. Green helmet softly pulled away from Gavin to scratch the back of his head while skull face was twiddling his thumbs in shame. 

Blue helmet nodded. “We’re so sorry about all the hassle that came out of this. Is that why you came up; to find him?”

Ray was a little surprised at the giant addressing him now, quietly and calmly, trying to put him at ease. He inhaled a little for some courage and exhaled nodding.

Green helmet sighed and looked over at blue helmet and skull face. “I mean can we let them go? Can we do that like?” Ray looked over at Gavin expecting his victorious face to match his own but only saw Gavin slowly pulling his hands back into the cage after green helmet pulled his hand away.

Skull face considered it and asked, “do people still talk of the giants; anything sinister tales that are shared around campfires?”

Gavin and Ray glanced at each other; Gavin gave a light shrug and nodded briefly at Ray.

“There are fairy-tales” starts Ray slowly “of old Gods. I don’t know if they’re directly referring to you but there are tales of huge old Gods that were banished to the stars for being too powerful to live among everyone else.”

The giants in the room paused, awed at the story. They looked amongst themselves, unsure what to think, before finally Green helmet laughed nervously and murmured “looks like you got your wish Ryan. You finally became the Dark God you always said you would.”

Skull face didn’t respond to this, he looked off in to the distance, carefully considering everything he had just learned. Blue helmet, however, was convinced.

“We’ll let you go. We’ll set you down and watch you as you climb down and then we’ll destroy the plant that got you here in the first place together and that will be the end of it. Everything can go back to the way it was.”

Ray’s heart soared at this.

He couldn’t believe it.

They were getting out of this!

All 3 of them!

They would climb down, grab the ring and just keep running before they could trade it off to someone else for a good bit of cash (honestly luxury worthy cash was just not worth it anymore) and they could buy a house and get jobs and-

“Wait” interrupted Gavin.

Ray’s triumphant internal monologue halted in its tracks as his heart seized up again. Oh no. Had Gavin seen through an insidious plot that the giants weren’t letting on? He had gotten an opportunity to study them after all. Perhaps he can already see through their lies. Ray thanked the Gods for Gavin who was here to see them get through to the end.

“What if we don’t want to go?..”

The question hung heavily in the air as everyone in the room took in slowly what the fuck Gavin just said. Ray felt utterly betrayed. Any decent thought that was racing through his head about Gavin was immediately vaporised and was instantly replaced with a muddle of confusion, despair and anger. He shot a look at Gavin, trying to convey his best “what the fuck are you talking about you piece of shit” face. Skull face snapped right out of his contemplation and leaned forward again. Blue helmet coughed. Green helmet was the only one who wasn’t completely speechless at what was just said.

“Aaahhh…” he started. “What aaahhh… what do you mean?”

Gavin leaned out as far as he could in an effort to get closer to the marked hand that was so close. He looked back at Ray, completely oblivious to the most poisonous look that Ray had ever given him in his entire life. “Don’t you see Ray?” he started as he finally made contact with Green helmet’s hand and started to pull him back towards the birdcage.   
“We don’t have to go back to what it was like before. We’ll never have to work again! It’ll never be cold! We’ll never be bored of anything again.” The smile that Gavin radiated almost convinced Ray that maybe it could work. Fuck that boy’s smile could break any heart he wanted and Goddammit when he got one of those perfectly hopeful smiles, he would follow that mad child into peril, cheering loudly the whole way. “We won’t have to just survive Ray, we can live!”

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t accept that life could just get better in an instant as simple as this. There was a difference between finding enough gold to sell off that would require months of watching your back and anxiety attacks before finally sailing off to a new land and this. He could understand freedom with a healthy dose of reality, but this was something else entirely. This wasn’t just giving up your old life, this was giving up everything you ever knew about the world. Gavin only ever saw the 3 giants in the house and they clearly never went below? How could Gavin even consider a life like this? Stuck in a castle with only a chosen few with all this knowledge and books, it didn’t seem right. Besides a life without ever having to worry again? The sounded like a dream that Ray could never deserve.

“It’ll be like the old stories we used to tell each other in the dark when we were small only this time it’ll be real.”

But why couldn’t Gavin see that that was the point. he pointedly forgot the parts of the stories where the Old Gods became so powerful that they were sent away from people who were terrified of them. Ray carefully considered the idea that these 3 may in fact be the same beings that the stories were referring to but didn’t push himself too far, lest his brain shut down from the stress. These giants clearly dabbled in ventures that were too dangerous for anyone to deal with and Ray was going to make absolute sure that they weren’t going to be dragged into it too.

Green helmet let his hand be pulled, unsure exactly how to feel at the concept of 3 tiny lads staying at their house for the foreseeable future. Looking around he knew that Blue helmet and Skull face weren’t sure how to process this either.

“I don’t know if…” began Green helmet before he looked over at Blue helmet in the kind of “what the fuck should I do” way while Blue helmet looked utterly dumbstruck.

Skull face leaned down. “Are you not afraid?”

Gavin shook his head. “I’ve seen you from a distance. You didn’t know but I was there, and I watched you. You’re not monsters. The old legends are false. I want to stay.” Gavin was now gripping onto Green helmet’s little finger tightly. “I want to stay and watch you do the things I can’t explain. I want to learn all about everything that goes on here, please! I want to learn how to read! It’s always been my dream! Please Geoff! Let us stay!”

Green helmet’s breath snagged in his throat. He wasn’t expecting his name to come out of his mouth, how pitiful it sounded with his miniscule lungs. He took his other hand; the one Gavin had not snagged and took off his helmet.

Ray was a little surprised at the man who lay underneath. Instead of the constantly flowing ethereal hair framing the face of a golden man with a face that looked like it was carved out of marble he looked so… normal? Granted there was beauty, though more of a lazy kind of beauty; the kind that involves mussing your hair up and dragging your callused fingers through a rough beard, yawning through chapped lips and rubbing sleepy eyes with wrinkles on the side from a long history of smiling. His heart skipped at a beat at the sight of the visibly confused giant in front of him, only this time it wasn’t out of fear. This would not be something Ray would admit to anyone (especially himself) for a long time.  
Blue helmet reached over and rubbed Green helmet’s back in an effort to ground him.

“Alright… ok… I think we can all agree that we have a lot to process here. Why don’t we go down to the kitchen, make some tea and sleep on it?”

Green helmet pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Yeah that sounds smart. I’m sure we can spare a pillow or something. God, I don’t know. Have we ever even had guest before? What do you even do?”

Gavin beamed at the prospect, his enthusiasm starting to affect Green helmet who was starting to grin back. Ray had had enough of this. He dragged his eyes away from Green helmet, marched right up to Gavin and yanked him away from the hand as Blue helmet was starting to stand up to make preparations for the night.

“We all have a lot to think about-“

“NO!” yelled Ray.

Gavin whined at the loss of contact. “What are you doing X-Ray?”

Green helmet’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yeah what gives short stuff? We’re not going to do anything with you.”

Ray held tightly on to his grip of Gavin’s arm and shot back “I’m glad! Our business is done in that case. We’re leaving. All 3 of us are leaving right now. Thank you for sparing us but clearly Gavin has gone to long without food and his head is starting to come up with batshit ideas.”

“That’s not true” started Gavin before he was walloped in the side by Ray’s forearm.

“Don’t you start with me. I’m taking them both and we’re climbing back down that beanstalk and we’re chopping that shit that has caused us nothing but trouble from the get-go.”

The giants looked uncomfortable as this spat happened before them, none of them sure what to do in this situation.

And it was at that exact moment that Michael, decided to fully re-enter the land of consciousness and turn this situation from “mostly handled if a little awkward” to “Murphey’s Law level of fucked”.

He just heard what appeared to be Ray shaking Gavin and telling him off for not following the plan.

He heard “…and we’re climbing back down that beanstalk and we’re chopping that shit that has caused us nothing but trouble from the get-go.”

Before Michael rubbed his face and said “we’re also going to have to find a new dealer to pawn off the giant’s ring. That’s going to fucking suck.”

It was almost in an instance, the speed in which the atmosphere changed in the room. Ray and Gavin froze and looked over at Michael in absolute horror. Gavin looked back up at the giants pleadingly, but he knew that the damage had been done.

Skull face started to chuckle, a sound made eerie by the fact that it had no emotion behind it. He leaned in, once again to an uncomfortable closeness to the birdcage.

“You haven’t the foggiest idea what you have done.”  
***  
During the weeks of the unbearable slog of the constant back and forth of bartering and examination over a gold ring, there was a battle of a different sort that was happening unknowingly right above the heads of the lads.

Geoff was slowly pulling his cock out of Jack, who lay on their bed with a contented look on his face. It was a dangerous life for your sanity living with Geoff and Ryan, but man was the sex worth it! Geoff wiped his sweaty brow and knelt down to kiss the furry belly of Jack. He gently nudged Jack to lie on his side and trailed his kisses up to the back of his neck as he laid behind him. Geoff tucked his legs behind Jacks knees to properly spoon him and hummed happily against his throat.

“You’re forgiven for now but if I ever catch one of your chickens under the toilet seat again, I’m going to chuck it out the window!”

“Throw Ya Boy out the window? You would never!”

Jack snickered as he reached his arm behind him to stroke Geoff’s head.

“You need to sop chucking your jewellery about every time we have sex. You’re going to lose something and then you’ll come crying to me when it’s lost.”

“No time” mumbled Geoff, his face firmly planted in Jack’s neck being lulled to sleep by the rhythmic rubbing of his scalp.

“No time? This is why you made the bowl Geoff!” Jack jerked his shoulder, causing Geoff to lift his head and see the glass bowl that lay on the nightstand; created by himself for occasions such as this. However, he didn’t realise when making it, that the strategy of use was a little hard to concentrate on when one of your hot as dicks soulmates was panting on the bed, flushed and rubbing their cocks. Naturally one was bound to get distracted.

Geoff buried his head back into Jack for more suckling kisses. “I promise you that nothing went missing. Besides, where could they go? If they’re not in this room, then it would be the room over. Nothing that’s impossible to find, ok love?”

Jack, content with the answer, moved his hand on to his throbbing erection that had still yet to be satisfied. Geoff, feeling Jack’s full shudder in the ripples of his flesh, slipped his hand slowly down Jack’s back and began to gently massage the puckered rim of his hole. Jack whined at the feeling and clenched his fist in Geoff’s hair. Geoff bit down lightly on Jack’s shoulder and licked the red mark he left behind as he eased two fingers in Jack’s hole, a task made easier by the dripping cum leaking out and searched for his prostate.

“Now then” he began as Jack’s breath became more ragged, “I think it’s safe to say that that wasn’t a full apology yet…”  
***  
After a quick wash, Geoff got on his hands and knees and began to pluck his rings off the floor. His royal signet ring has rolled under the bed and took a little longer to find then his engraved silver one that Jack gave him so long ago.

Now for Ryan’s ring…

Admittedly this was a lot harder than it had any right to be. He crawled around the room, lifted up the pillows, threw the blankets around the rooms, reached around the fabrics around the four posters of the bed until he sat in the middle of the room, worry growing in his gut.

This was nothing to worry about surely.

He lost his shit all the time, this was nothing.

Except it wasn’t nothing was it?

Those rings were his most precious possessions, and though Jack and Ryan often joked about how they were carelessly flung around during the throes of sex, it’s not like he threw them to the other side of the castle for fucks sake! Where the bloody hell did this one go?

He thought of where the hell else it could be. After 5 minutes of contemplation, he rocked himself back onto his feet and set off to find Jack. Not before grabbing the slick bottle of lube on the way out the door. He was a little nervous of running into Ryan in the halls but luckily it seemed that Ryan was spending the day in one of his chambers, preferring not to be disturbed. Jack, on the other hand, was found in one of his favourite spots; his feet up in front of the fire of their massive library. He was deeply immersed in a book while his left hand idly sought out one of the shortbread biscuits that lay on a plate. Geoff cleared his throat causing Jack to lower the book.

“Something wrong?”

Geoff rolled up his sleeve and gestured to the bottle he was holding.

“Babe I’m gonna have to reach WAY into your asshole or Ryan will fucking kill me…”

Jack sat there for a good minute, the book hanging limply from his hand, the crumbs trickling down his beard, his lips pursed.

He held up a finger, reached over, grabbed his bookmark, saved his spot in the book and put it down. After that, he clasped his hands together as if he was praying and asked “Geoff… the fuck?..”

Geoff nervously hopped from one foot to the other as the guilt rolled inside of him. He really didn’t want to admit that Jack was right and that he fucked up big time but goddamn if that ring wasn’t important. He sighed and held out his left hand. Jack looked at it with a confused expression until he saw the spot where the missing band of gold encrusted with its signature ruby usually sat.

“Oh noooooooo… Geoff! Geoff what the fuck?”

“I know!” snapped Geoff, yanking his hand back as if it was burned. He clenched his fist and felt uncomfortable at the lack of familiarity of the space on his middle finger.

“We literally had this conversation!”

“I know Jack!” Geoff was now wrapping his arms around his chest, hoping to stave off the guilt.

“You literally made a bowl so this specific situation wouldn’t ha-“

“I KNOW JACK! I KNOW! DON’T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?” yelled Geoff who was starting to panic. He ran his hands through his hair and struggled to breathe as tears stung the corners of his eyes. He heard a shift in the couch as Jack promptly stood up from the couch and marched over to Geoff. He grabbed him by his forearms.

“Geoff? Geoff honey look at me. Can you do that for me?”

Geoff looked up in to the deep blue eyes of Jack as his breathing had become a shaky wheeze. Jack wound his arms around Geoff’s waist and pulled him in closer.

“Now Geoff. We’re going to breathe in and then out for a minute ok? Just follow my lead. In… and out. Can you do it again for me? In… and out. Keep looking at me hun. In-“

They continued like that as the blue in Jack’s eyes practically glowed. Geoff never felt safer like he did in the strong arms of Jack. He felt a little light-headed but much better after a few minutes of the routine and then leaned in for a cuddle. Jack rubbed circles on his back and kissed the top of his head as he let him rest in his arms.

“Now here’s what we’ll do. We’re going to go back into the room and this time I’ll help you look for the ring. And if that doesn’t work we’ll try your method and if it still doesn’t show up? We’ll sit down with Ryan and have a little chat about it. Does that sound ok to you honey?”

Geoff hummed into his shoulder.

“A little chat with Ryan? That doesn’t exactly have a good history behind that.”

Jack huffed a small laugh.

“Well… he’ll understand after a bit. Though it is important we tell him if its missing, you know, that right?”

“Yeah yeah” sighed Geoff. He felt the strength returning to his legs and his mind cleared. He smiled up at Jack and planted a wet kiss on his lips. Jack chuckled and sucked lightly on Geoff’s bottom lip, before giving him a quick slap on the back.

“Alright then! The sooner we can find that ring, the sooner I can get back to my book!”

They rummaged around in the room and the rooms surrounding it for an hour before it was very clear that the ring had all but evaporated in to the sky. Jack pushed in the drawer that he had emptied and filled up again, exhaled deeply and passed the bottle of lube to Geoff.

“Be gentle” he warned before pulling his trousers down and got on his hands and knees onto the bed. Geoff gave Jack a comforting pat on his ass before hiking his sleeve on his right arm and doused it heavily in lube, before deliberately taking all his rings off and putting them into the bowl. Jack’s hole was still a little stretched from earlier, so it wasn’t a problem to slip two fingers past the rim. Jack closed his eyes and began taking measured breaths as Geoff began to make scissor motions with the two fingers inside of him. After another two minutes, he was able to stretch Jack wide enough to fit another finger. He started slowly pumping the fingers forwards and backwards while Jack moaned lightly and leaned down into one of the pillows. Geoff quickly used his hand to hold him steady as Jack found a more comfortable position. He pecked his ass cheek lightly and continued. Soon there was enough room to even slip his thumb past the opening and Geoff placed his hand firmly on the small of Jack’s back to keep him steady.

“Tell me when you’re ready to go babe.”

Jack huffed for a few minutes before Geoff began to feel the rim around his hand began to relax. Jack grunted, and Geoff began to slowly fuck his fist deeper into Jack. He would stop whenever Jack would tense up and would only continue whenever he would feel the tight pressure slacken and Jack to give permission. Once he was deep enough, he carefully spread his fingers and began to root around, hoping to brush against something hard and metal. To make light of the situation, he peered around and grinned at Jack’s red face deep in the pillow.

“Dude I’m not going to lie, I’m rocking at least a half chub doing this to you.”

Jack lifted his head slightly from the pillow and gave a small keening sound before reaching his hand up to cradle his throbbing erection.

“Holy shit, you’re ready to fucking blow!” cried Geoff, almost forgetting the task in the moment. Jack looked back as he began to squeeze his cock.

“Don’t you fucking stop you son of a bitch!”

That’s when Ryan decided to walk in. 

He had spent a nice quiet day in one of his chambers, doing light research on electrical wiring and was now enjoying that fizzy, sugared beverage he was fond of which he brewed in vats in the cellar. Ryan was in the mood for a conversation and heard what sounded like muffled hollering coming from the bedroom. Whether it sex or Geoff stubbing his toe again, it would have made for an interesting end to the day. What he was met with was a very red Jack on all fours on their bed with his trousers off and a tight grip on his dick while Geoff was forearm deep into Jack. They halted when they saw Ryan come in whose only reaction was to take another sip of his drink and cheerily greet them.

“Hey guys! What’s up?”

Jack spluttered into the pillow and Geoff’s arm froze in motion, like a child getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Only this cookie jar was an ass which may have a very important ring inside it.

Ryan lay down on the bed next to Jack and folded his legs. He grinned as he looked back and forth between them both, apparently finding the guilty expressions on their faces amusing.

“Ry…Ryan” panted Jack as the dipping of the bed caused Geoff’s hand to shift slightly inside of him. Ryan plucked the glasses that were hanging askew on Jack’s face. 

“Well?” he started polishing the glasses that were slightly smudged and put them and his drink on the bedside table before looking back up at Geoff. “Are you going to continue?” Geoff grit his teeth and continued the slow process of pulling his arm in and out.

Ryan lay down fully and brushed the hair off Jack’s face before leaning in for a kiss. Jack whined against him and began to clumsily palm at his erection again. Ryan snorted and shifted in the bed to move closer before licking his palm, batting his hand away and taking hold of Jack’s throbbing dick before beginning to massage it. Jack’s hands were now scrabbling to hold on to the bulk of Ryan, crying out when Geoff pushed his arm back in a little too forcefully.

“Careful!” warned Ryan his eyes going dark for just a second before going back to the task at hand. Geoff was cursing low, one hand half searching for the arm, half pleasuring Jack with his other hand with a tight grip on the bulge in his pants. Jack yelped as cum sprayed the sheets of the bed. Ryan gave one more stroke before lying back down beside Jack, nonchalantly licking the white strings on his fingers. After Jack managed to regain his breath, he looked back at Geoff.

“Any luck?”

Geoff exhaled slowly and began to pull his arm out of Jack’s hole. Ryan, who was stroking Jack’s hair, looked up curiously.

“Any luck with what?” he asked.

Geoff didn’t answer. He walked over to the washbasin and ran soapy water over his arm. His erection was dying down now that his anxiety was back. After towelling himself off, he took a wet cloth and walked back into the room.

“I think after all that I would have been able to find it.” Geoff said carefully cleaning the area around Jack’s hole, seeing as the poor man was in no state to do it himself. Ryan had picked up his fizzy drink again and looked back and forth between the men.

“Find what?”

“Just tell him Geoff” said Jack resolutely while finally lying down and closing his eyes out of exhaustion from the process. Ryan blinked at Geoff and waited for him to explain what was going on. Geoff wanted to run far away but knew that the truth would come out eventually, so might as well do it now.

“I lost your ring Ryan. I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry!” Geoff began to babble, cowardly as it was unable to look at Ryan’s face. “We looked everywhere. I pulled it off for something and I don’t know where it’s gone, but I tried Ryan! I really fucking tried to find it but I fucking couldn’t and I’m so fucking sorry!

Ryan’s face went from a chipper curiosity to a blank slate as the emotion drained away. His lips thinned and he rose up abruptly. Jack’s eyes opened again but couldn’t move to calm Ryan down as he stood in the middle of the room, completely still. Geoff trembled slightly as he was met with the cold fury of Ryan. It had been a long while since they had done anything to make Ryan this upset but it was never something they could get used to. Ryan glared at Geoff, his black eyes fixed on the man who looked like he wanted nothing more than for the ground to swallow him up.

With effort, Ryan pried his teeth apart to mutter “going for a walk” before spinning on his heels and stalking out of the room. Geoff’s legs felt like jelly as he sat down on the bed. Jack, his eyes still closed, reached out to pull him down and wrap an arm around him.

“I hate it when he goes for his walks” murmured Geoff miserably as he snuggled into Jack. He hushed Geoff and held him tight.

“Don’t worry hun. You did the right thing. It would have been worse if we pretended that nothing was wrong. He’ll be back. He just needs to blow off some steam.” Jack cracked open a tired eye and grinned.

“And besides… we had our fun, didn’t we?”

Geoff gave a ghost of a smile and cuddled closer to Jack, hoping that Ryan would forgive him soon.  
***  
It had been a month since Ryan had gone. Jack was able to continue about his days through the house, knowing that Ryan would come back soon enough once he had calmed down and that he needed his space for his temper tantrums. Frankly, it suited everyone better that there was a way for him to leave and take it out in a different dimension rather than have that destruction in the house. Geoff, however, was the personification of despair as he trudged around the castle, finding no comfort in any of his hobbies. Not even his beloved chickens could snap him out of this funk. He would drift around the house during the day and stare at his half-finished projects in a state of confusion and despair, unable to achieve anything. Every night, he would sit at the Nether portal, waiting for Ryan to step out of it, until the hypnotic swirling of the purple glow would make him drift off to an uneasy sleep. He’d wake up shivering to a worried Jack pulling him up and dragging him to bed. He would curl around Jack who whispered comforts into his ear until finally fatigue got the better of him and he would crash until morning where the cycle would begin again. They both knew that it was unwise to follow Ryan into the Nether as the desolate landscape was something that they couldn’t handle without Ryan guiding them through. While they were desperate to get Ryan back, it hadn’t gotten that bad yet.

It was on one of these nights when Geoff was lying on the floor during a fitful sleep that Ryan stepped back through the portal. He was covered in flakes of Netherrack. He was shrouded in a heavy, black cloak that was suited for the dangerous winds of the Nether while the lower part of his face was obscured with a dark red scarf wrapped tightly around. He gave a deep sigh and cracked his neck before spotting Geoff twitching on the ground in front of him. He watched him for a minute before kneeling down slowly and carding a hand through his hair. Geoff opened his bloodshot eyes and whimpered at the sight of Ryan at last.

“I’m sorry, please Ryan I’m so fucking sorry.”

Ryan hushed him and scooped him up into his arms, before lifting him up and carrying him to the bedroom. Jack woke up to the noise of Ryan carefully placing Geoff into the middle of the bed, before heading off to the bathroom for a quick wash to relieve himself of the dirt that had accumulated over the month of living in the Nether. Geoff, still more asleep than awake, tossed around.

“No! Where did he go? Come back!”

“He’ll be back after a quick shower honey” soothed Jack, pulling him in close.

Ryan made sure to be quick in the tub before towelling himself off and slipping back into the bedroom. He crawled into bed behind Geoff and leaned over him to give a Jack a deep kiss before turning Geoff over and taking him into his strong arms. Geoff nuzzled him as Ryan pressed kisses on his forehead. Jack spooned Geoff from behind and clutched onto Ryan’s arm tightly too. He had missed him desperately but now was not the time for him. Geoff needed this so much more than he did.

They fell asleep like that, wrapped around each other until late morning the next day. They woke up with Geoff kissing the base of Ryan’s throat who hummed in appreciation. There was no talking for a while as they caressed each other before Ryan cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry for leaving for that long a time.”

Geoff opened his mouth before Ryan placed a finger on it, silencing him.

“Let me finish. I was angry, and I needed some time to think and what I came to realise was that despite whatever the ring meant in the past, it’s not important as to what I have now. The rings brought us together but that’s all they were- a symbol.”

Jack was grinning behind Geoff, propped up on his elbow. He loved it when Ryan became a huge sap.

“What I’m trying to say is that it would be a thousand times worse if I lost you Geoff, and no amount of time in the Nether would ever make me get over it. I love you.” He looked up at Jack. “Both of you. And I’m sorry that I put you two through so much worry, especially you Geoff.”

Geoff rolled over on top of Ryan and pressed his lips happily against mouth. Ryan chuckled deeply and opened his mouth to tease Geoff’s lips open. They stayed like that for a while, Geoff on top of Ryan, tongues rolling languidly while Jack watched with a content smile on his face. They broke apart after a while before Ryan reached over and slid his arm under Jack, pulling him in and giving him the same treatment as Geoff pressed kisses on his chest.

“I’m your slave for like a month. Your ass slave. My ass is yours.” purred Geoff hotly as he mouthed around one of Ryan’s nipples. A hand caught the scruff of his neck and he looked up to see that the two of them had broken apart with Ryan looking amused and Jack looking almost half insulted.

“What about me?”

Geoff blinked.

“What about you?”

“You going to offer me any apology for anything?”

“What do you need an apology for?”

Jack nearly choked on his tongue while Ryan sniggered.

“You looking for that ring! I couldn’t walk properly for a week after that!”

“What are you talking about?” retorted Geoff “I gave you the orgasm of the century, which by the way, you’re welcome!”

Ryan held up his hand. “Gentlemen please! I think we’re all missing the bigger picture here!”

He brought down his hand sharply on Geoff’s ass cheek, creating a shrill squeak out of the man.

“As my official ass slave as you put it, you’re going to start by giving us both morning blowjobs, before we go to work. Is that understood?”

Geoff’s dick twitched with interested.

He lifted the sheets and crawled under them. Ryan began teasing open Jack’s lips again as he felt Geoff’s hot breath on his cock.

“Yes”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, my lord.”  
***  
It took a little while before their routines were back to normal. They all went back to their projects with gusto during the day and at night they sat down together and filled each other in on what they had done. It didn’t matter if nothing had been accomplished or finished, their philosophy was more of “we have the time, so why rush things?” There was a key difference, however, to their life in the sky. Obviously, Ryan let Geoff off the hook eventually and even made jokes about the loss of the ring, while assuring Geoff that all the anger came from the spur of the moment and that ultimately it was just a ring. Geoff, however, could never stop feeling the niggling feeling of guilt deep within him whenever he caught sight of his empty middle finger. Ryan and Jack would sometimes catch him hanging out in the bedroom, rummaging through clothes or moving furniture around in an effort for the shitty feelings to just fucking stop.

But he never found it.

And Ryan and Jack would pull him away and try to distract him while he berated himself on his stupidity. While it may have become just a pretty trinket to Ryan, it meant so much more to Geoff. That ring was the beginning of the end of all those terrible years he spent alone, hating himself for being partly responsible for the chaos in his kingdom when he ran away. It represented the end of the bitter feud between Geoff and Ryan as they fought over a crown that had no right belonging to either of them. Most importantly though was that it symbolised the love that had grown between them in their forced banishment to the sky.

It was something that was always in the back of his mind.

A question with no answer in sight.

At least until Michael opened his big fucking mouth that is.  
***  
Green helmet sat down on the bed and put his face into his hands and sighed that sounded uncomfortably like a sob.

“I thought I lost it… I blamed myself for so long… I lost sleep over this…”

Blue helmet reached out and took him by the shoulder, leaning in to whisper something into his ear, in an effort to calm him down. He brought his hand under Green helmet’s face, in an effort to look into his eyes but Green helmet shook his hand away. The sleepiness had vanished from his face. A black cloud of fury descended on him as Michael was now trying to sit up. He grabbed Gavin’s shirt as leverage to haul him up. He looked around and quickly took in the situation with the birdcage and all 3 giants leering down at him.

“Oh… oh fuck…” was all he could manage.

“OH FUCK IS RIGHT YOU LITTLE TURD! YOUR ASS IS FUCKING OURS NOW!” 

He snatched the birdcage off the bed and shook it in the air. All 3 of the lads screamed at the loss of their vertical balance and whiplash as they were hurled back and forth through their prison.

“That! Was! My! God! Damn! Soul! Mate! Ring!” each syllable punctuated with another swing.

Gavin smashed against the bars and tried to grab on for dear life, but the force peeled his sweaty fingers away and he was thrown against the limp body of Michael who had once again passed out as a result of the stress.

“Geoff? Where are you going?” cried Blue helmet as Green helmet stomped out of the room, gritting his teeth with the birdcage swinging wildly in his hand.

“I’M GIVING THESE THIEVES EXACTLY WHAT THEY FUCKING WANTED!” he roared as he climbed the stairs of the castle before reaching the stairs, with Skull face and Blue helmet hurrying after him. After ascending to the highest tower to a room; one that was very snug for the giants, only containing a writing desk and a quill with ink that sat in front of a round window. Green helmet pushed open the window and extended his arm out of it, dangling the birdcage outside.

“GEOFF! GEOFF! PLEASE! I’M SORRY! I’M SO SORRY ABOUT EVERYTHING! WE DIDN’T MEAN IT! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” screamed Gavin as he looked down at the utterly dizzying drop below. Something unpleasant gurgled in his stomach and he feared he would vomit from the fright. Rather than dropping them to their miserable ends however, Green helmet reached out with his other hand and took in a lantern that was hanging outside on a hook. He all but threw the birdcage outside when he attached it to the hook.

“YOU FUCKERS ARE STAYING HERE FOR THE REST OF YOUR SHITTY LIVES AS YOU WORK OFF THE DEBT YOU OWE US!”

And with that Green helmet slammed the window shut and stomped out of the tower, passing Blue helmet and Skull face. Blue helmet’s shoulders were slumped, and his head was bowed from the blow of the revelations. Skull face touched his shoulder in a small sign of reassurance and gently pushed him back through the door to head down the stairs. Before leaving himself, Skull face reached out with a finger and gently tilted the birdcage hard enough for it to swing dangerously on the hook, resulting in the lads clutching on to each other for dear life.

“Goodnight” came a soft voice.

He lifted his mask up with one hand and a pair of lips, stuck in a smile that held no happiness, blew out the lantern leaving them in the darkness, freezing cold and terrified.


End file.
